


TriWizard Tournament

by Tay_Quin



Series: Harry’s Slytherin Sister [3]
Category: Emma Evans: The Slytherin Sister - Taylor Quinlan, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Afterlife, Azkaban, Care of Magical Creatures, Cats, Charms, Daily Prophet, Death Eaters, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Dementors, Divination, Dragons, F/F, F/M, Flying, Fourth Year, Ghosts, Gryffindor, Harry Has a Sibling, Herbology, Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, House Elves, Hufflepuff, M/M, Magic, Magical Creatures, Mermaids, Mermen, Muggle Studies, Muggle things, Muggles, Musical, Owls, Potions, Quidditch, Quidditch World Cup, Ravenclaw, Secrets, Seeker, Slytherin, Swimming, Transfiguration, Triwizard Tournament, Wands, Witches, Wizards, Yule Ball, city, dating starts, friends - Freeform, graveyard, maze, spells, tea starts, tournament
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 39,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25101997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tay_Quin/pseuds/Tay_Quin
Summary: Emma Evans’ third year at Hogwarts.
Relationships: Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald, Angelina Johnson/George Weasley, Astoria Greengrass/Neville Longbottom, Cho Chang/Marietta Edgecombe, Daphne Greengrass/Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s), Draco Malfoy/Pansy Parkinson, Fleur Delacour/Bill Weasley, Ginny Weasley/Dean Thomas, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Fred Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood, Pansy Parkinson/Blaise Zabini, Ron Weasley/Lavender Brown, Severus Snape/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Harry’s Slytherin Sister [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1696795
Comments: 22
Kudos: 154





	1. The Afterlife

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Welcome to Book 3! I’m super excited for this one. I how you’re enjoying this as much as I am enjoying writing it. Without further ado, lets get into it!

_Lily and James had spent the past twelve years watching over a few different people. One might look in on them and wonder, why these people? For, these people led particularly troubled lives._

_There was the boy with the scar like lightning, messy dark hair and glasses that had been broken several times over._

_There was the girl with hair like living flame, eyes so green and piercing, and the quickest mind around. Always scheming, always planning, observing, tucking facts away for future use._

_These two happened to be brother and sister, which made it easy to look after them in the summer time. Their parents had been murdered by a psychotic killer, but when the killer had turned on the boy, he had failed to kill him. The boy became famous, while the girl was forced to live in secret, hidden away. They had had a hard life since their parents deaths. Their aunt and uncle had taken them in and had not been kind. No, they were abusive and cruel._

_There was a man, who had been locked away for a crime he had not committed. He had been forced to spend years in a prison cell, having the happiness drained from him with every waking moment._

_There was another man, a werewolf. He was shunned by society, forced to travel, searching for work, in debt, for years and years._

_And, there was a rat. A rat who lived in the company of nine red-heads._

_The werewolf found work, at the school in which the red headed children, the boy and the girl attended. The locked away man escaped. The man turned dog, the rat turned man. And Lily and James watched as everything played out._

_They forgave their friend, when he said, “Guilty.” He was guilty. His crime had been to give up Lily and James to the murderer who killed them. But still, they forgave him, because he had been their friend. They would never love him again, they would not welcome him to death with open arms. But they forgave him._

_The dark haired boy and the flame haired girl, they were the children of Lily and James. They were Harry and Emma._

_They were watching Harry and Emma now._

_Harry and Emma were at their aunt and uncle’s house again. For the summer. And their cousin, Dudley, had been forced onto a diet. So of course, the aunt, Petunia, and the uncle, Vernon, had decided to feed Emma and Harry less than Dudley, to make up for the diet. That meant, Emma and Harry were being starved._

_Harry was curled on the small bed, trying to ignore the hunger. Lily and James had watched him write to his friends a few hours before, asking them to send food._

_Emma was scrunched into a corner, whispering frantically, clutching a telephone to her ear._

_Lily and James knew her to be talking to her very best friend, Draco Malfoy. They could see him too, despite the distance that stretched between Emma and Draco. It appeared to Lily and James as though he was just in the next room over._

_He looked completely furious by Emma’s words, furious and a little sad. She looked worried and hungry, so very hungry._

_Emma hung up the phone and Lily looked away. James was pinching the bridge of his nose, just below the rim his glasses. Both of them looked pained to be seeing their children suffering. It hadn’t been the first time and it wouldn’t be the last, but it still hurt to watch._

_“Lily,” James murmured, grabbing his wife’s hand, “It’ll be alright. They have fantastic friends, their friends will save them.”_

_“I know! I just wish I could, I wish we could.” Lily breathed. “I wish they could have gone with Pads and Moony.”_

_“I do too, but Wormtail has made that impossible.” James growled._

_“That wasn’t his intention,” Reasoned Lily._

_“No, his intention is to bring Voldemort back to life and have our son killed.”_

_“He is afraid. He was never brave, like the rest of us.”_

_James sighed and sat, massaging his temples, “I know, I’m just worried about what he’ll do. Fear makes us desperate and rash.”_

_“He is becoming brave, you saw it just as well as I did. He was put in Gryffindor because of his capacity for bravery. Proclaiming himself guilty to spare Pads displayed that.” Lily said._

_“Or it’s part of some bigger scheme.” James scoffed._

_“James,” Lily argued, “He could have escaped at any time. He waited until after the trial, why would he have done that, if not for Pads?”_

_“Our babies are growing up without us,” James said sadly. Lily made her way over to him and wrapped her arm around his waist. He rested his head on her shoulder. “Harry’s going to be fourteen soon, and Emma will be thirteen, only a short while later.”_

_“They’re so strong, they’ve gone through so much,” Lily murmured._

_“I know.” James said._

_“And if the prophecy is anything to go by, it’ll only get harder.”_

_“I know.” Repeated James._

_“And I’m scared, James. I love them, and I miss them, but I don’t want to be reunited with them anytime soon.” Lily’s voice broke._

_“I know, Lil’. I’m scared too. But, like you said, they’re strong, they can face anything that comes their way.” James soothed his wife. “They’ll make it.”_

_“But, will they still be the same, on the other side of this?” Lily asked._

_“No,” James said, “They’ll be better.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this little look into our after world. We will be back with Emma tomorrow! Please, please, please, remember to leave comments and kudos!


	2. Run Away With Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might start updating every other day, rather than daily. But nothing is set in stone at the moment. I’ll do my best to figure things out soon!

Harry and I were dying. We were being starved to death. Dudley’s diet required he eat next to nothing and to make up for it, Petunia ensured that the rest of us got even less. We received about a quarter of what Dudley was getting, and we were forced to split it between the two of us. I had never been so hungry in my life.

Harry had sent letters to all of his friends, asking them to send food. And I had called Draco, he had freaked out, and seemed to be contemplating blowing up the house. I was thinking about writing to Snape or Remus or Sirius. But Sirius and Remus were doing more important things, and I didn’t want to trouble Snape with this. He was just my guardian during the school year, it wasn’t his job to take care of me over the summer. Sirius was Harry’s godfather and Remus was mine, but still, we couldn’t take them from their mission.

We just had to hope that our friends came through and saved us. It pained me to remember that only a fortnight had passed, since the end of school. How would Harry and I survive a whole summer like this? We were doomed if things continued on the way they were. I could already feel my clothes growing looser. Everything ached in a rather unpleasant way.

When I stood from my little corner, my head felt too heavy and my vision darkened with dots. I danced on the edge of unconsciousness for several long moments before the world around me cleared.

I moved slowly and sat on the bed beside my brother. I rested my head against his shoulder. I was so tired. Across the room, the phone began to ring. Draco’s number. But I couldn’t move, I was so very tired. I would just rest for a couple moments and then get the phone. But it stopped going off after the second ring. Downstairs, I heard Vernon’s voice answer gruffly.

I sighed and resigned myself to be forbidden from using the telephone. Less than ten minutes later, Vernon came barging into our bedroom.

“You friend, William, is picking you up, girl. You’re to spend the summer with him.” He spat in my general direction, not daring to make eye contact with me. I glared at him before slowly moving off the bed. William, what a terrible undercover name. I almost laughed, but it turned into a cough. “He will be here with his mother to collect you in an hour.” I nodded, wondering what fake name he had come up with for his mother. I knew the names ‘Draco’ and ‘Narcissa’ would not have gone over well with the Dursleys.

I packed as quickly as I could, with help from Harry. Still, it took nearly forty minutes. “Listen, Harry. If your friends don’t send you any food, I will send you things, just right to me, okay?”

He nodded and muttered, “Be careful, Em.”

“I will, Har, I promise. But it’s not like I will be hanging out with Draco’s father.” I replied, tiredly. My head was pounding, in time with my heart.

Ten minutes later, a beautiful and likely very expensive car, came down the drive and pulled into the Dursleys driveway. Out stepped Draco and Narcissa. Draco was wearing muggle clothes, wearing them correctly too. He looked nice, but not overly fancy. The same was true of his mother.

Narcissa walked to the door, Draco trailing a few steps behind her. She rang the doorbell and stepped back a few feet, to give room for the door to open. And a few seconds later, it did.

As I left the bedroom with my trunk, I heard Narcissa introduce herself as ‘Maya Wright.’ That made Draco ‘William Wright’. I snorted at the thought, he simply did not look like a William Wright. “Goodbye Harry, I love you. Remember to write to me, and don’t let Draco or Narcissa see you.

“Love you too, Em. See you soon.” Harry said, before locking himself in our bedroom.

It was a great effort to lug my trunk down the stairs, and halfway down, Draco rushed upstairs to help me. “Thanks William.” He smiled at me. But his smile fell as soon as we came into the light of the the front entry. I knew I must look dreadful, but still it stung a little. It stung to be so winded just from going down the stairs. I desperately needed to sit down, to rest, even if for just a moment. Narcissa’s eyes widened when they fell on me, but she betrayed no other emotions.

“So,” Vernon began, and her eyes flitted to him coldly, “How do you know Emma?”

“Will and Emma attended the same primary school,” Narcissa said. Her voice conveyed politeness, but her eyes portrayed absolute loathing.

“Yeah we were in the same year at Saint Grogory’s and the same classes most years.” I said. I leaned against the wall, trying to keep myself upright.

Draco left for a moment, taking my trunk with him, to put in the car.

“Right, well, we’ll be off then,” Narcissa said, her eyes never leaving Vernon.

“Yeah,” Vernon returned dumbly, “Before you go, I would like a private word with Emma.”

Narcissa looked to me, as if asking whether or not it was okay to leave me alone with him. I gave a minute nod and with one more glare in his direction, she swept from the room.

“Listen girl,” Vernon spat, putting his purpling face far too close to my own. “I don’t want any funny business from you while your with these nice people. Don’t you say a word about your freak school!”

I swayed on my feet, but managed to nod. My head was swimming. I staggered to the car and collapsed into the beck seat. Latte and Emmett came running from their hiding place in the yard, and hopped onto the floor of the car. I knew Tambor would follow until we were safely out of the Dursley’s line of sight.

Narcissa slid into the driver’s seat and Draco hurried back to the car. But rather than resuming his place in the passenger’s seat, he climbed into the back beside me. Narcissa backed out of the driveway, and I noticed that she was clutching the wheel so hard, that the skin over her knuckles was stretched white.

“Em,” Draco said softly, “You said you were hungry, you didn’t tell me they were killing you.”

“I didn’t want to be dramatic.” I laughed feebly. He gave an exasperated sigh.

“What do you want?” Draco asked, “To eat?”

“Now?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“Strawberries,” I mumbled, “And a cheese toastie.”

He gave me a small smile, and said, “Coming right up.”

Moments later, a plate of strawberries and my cheese toastie were before me. “Thanks.”

It took nearly a half hour for me to finish eating. I was starving, but I knew I needed to eat slowly, pace myself. Otherwise everything would just come right back up again. Once I finally finished, I was still hungry, but I knew better that to keep eating.

“Do you want anything else?” Asked Draco. He had been watching me intently the whole time.

I shook my head, “I’m tired.”

“Here, lie down.” He offered and I did. I rested my head on his lap and closed my eyes.

***

When I woke up, I was lying on a couch. Snape was in the room, staring at the fireplace. Within it, I could see the head of Dumbledore. Likely communicating via floo powder.

Snape sounded furious as he said his next words, “How could you let this happen?! She is practically a skeleton! You insist on forcing Harry and Emma back to their relative’s house, to protect them from dark wizards! Yet, you neglect the fact that Petunia and her dreadful husband might very well kill them on their own!”

“You know the charm Lily casts, lives on within her sister.” Dumbledore replied, calmly.

“A charm which only protects Harry. Neither of them are safe there, but Emma is in danger from her relatives and dark wizards!” Snape hissed.

“So, where would you have them go?” Dumbledore asked, still just as calm as before.

“With Sirius and Remus!” Snape hissed, angry.

“I was under the impression that you disliked Sirius and Remus.” Dumbledore said curiously.

“I am not fond of either of them, however I will not deny that they would take care of Emma and Harry.” Snape said, then added, “They were going to take them... until you intervened!”

“And why does it matter now?” Inquired Dumbledore, “Emma is safe, with the Malfoy’s, is she not?”

“Of course Emma is safe with them, but Harry is still with Petunia!” Snape growled.

“Oh Severus, don’t tell me you’ve grown to care for Harry.” Dumbledore said, his face kind.

“Of course I have!” Then quieter, “He is his mother’s son.”

“I thought you said, he was, and I quote, ‘His father all over again.’”

“That was before I looked closer.” Snape muttered.

“Ah. Are you going to the Quidditch World Cup this year?” Dumbledore asked pleasantly, switching the conversation over completely.

“No,” Snape said slowly, confusion clear on his face.

“Good, there is something I would like you to do.”

“But, the cup is months away.”

“Severus.” Dumbledore firmly said.

“Of course. In person then?”

Dumbledore nodded.

And then Snape swept from the room and Dumbledore vanished from the flames. And I was left, more confused than I had been in a long while.

***

Draco came in a few hours later to check on me. Tambor was perched on his shoulder with a letter in her beak. “Oh, good, you’re awake!” Draco said, grinning at me. “How are you feeling? Hungry?”

“Yeah, I’m starving.” I replied, sitting up with great effort. “Is that letter for me?”

“Yes.” He answered, passing it over to me. “What do you want to eat?”

“Depends,” I said, taking the letter from his outstretched hand.

“On what?”

“What time of day is it?”

“Morning,” He checked his watch. “9:30, so breakfast?”

“Pancakes, if you could. With strawberries. And I wouldn’t say no to a smoothie.” I said, offering up a pleading smile.

“What kind of smoothie?”

“Strawberry banana? With vanilla yogurt instead of milk.”

He laughed and said, “You sure like your strawberries,” before leaving the room. I grinned at the closed door.

He returned a short while later with a heaping plate of fluffy golden brown pancakes and the freshest looking strawberries I had ever seen. In his other hand, he carried a humongous glass filled to the brim with smoothie.

“Thank you,” I said, settling the plate on my lap and the glass on the little table beside the couch. “But you realize that there is no way I can eat all of this.” It was a statement, not a question. “Was Snape here earlier or did I dream that?”

“No, he was here.” Draco said, sitting on the edge of the couch, by my legs. “He was super angry too, called Dumbledore via the floo network and started yelling at him, I think. I’m not sure though, because you were the only one in the room.”

“Yeah, he yelled at Dumbledore a bit. He was trying to convince Dumbledore not to make me go back there next year.”

“And?” Draco prompted, “What did Dumbledore say?”

“He never made a decision, so we’ll see.” I replied, solemnly.

Draco shook his head, jaw clenched tightly. “Honestly, why would he even consider letting you go back?”

I shrugged, taking a bite from my pancakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Comments and kudos por favor.


	3. Muggle Things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Y’all! Back with another chapter! I hope you like it!

After a couple weeks at Draco’s house, we decide it was time to get our homework done. I had been given my own room, right beside Draco’s. It was bigger than the entire upstairs at the Dursley’s house and was completely decked out in silver and green. There was a large perch for Tambor and Latte and Emmett each had their own plush cat beds. The three of them felt right at home here, and so did I.

Lucius and Narcissa were quite pleasant to be around. Though I certainly preferred Narcissa to her husband. Luckily for me, Lucius had to go to the Ministry for his job everyday, while Narcissa stayed home with Draco and me. A week into my stay, I found out that she knew Draco was taking Muggle Studies with me. It was only Lucius who was opposed to the subject. Narcissa didn’t seem to care, so long as Draco was alive and getting an education. At least, that would make it easier to complete our homework for the class.

I thought it would be best for Draco and me to meet up with Hermione to arrange muggle activities to partake in. So, that afternoon, once we had finished an essay for transfiguration, defense against the dark arts and potions, I sat down with Draco to draft a letter for Hermione.

**Dear, Hermione**

**I hope you are well. I have decided to spend the summer with Draco, due to the poor conditions at home. I thought you might like to work with Draco and me on the homework for Muggle Studies. If so, might we go to your house to decide which activities to do. Perhaps your parents might have some ideas for us? I was thinking we could go boating or see a play? Any ideas? If we can’t meet at your house, then we could just meet somewhere in Hampstead. Let us know!**

**-Emma & Draco**

I sent the letter off with Tully and then decided it was time to finally take a stab at the herbology essays. I really did not want to do them, seeing as herbology was my worst class by far, but I knew I would be relieved once they were done. I opened my herbology book and began to read the chapter on Mimbulus mimbletonia. I would need the information for my essay titled, ‘Defense Mechanisms of the Mimbulus Mimbletonia.’ After several pages of the chapter my mind began to drift. “How long is this chapter?” I groaned.

“One hundred pages,” Draco responded, nonchalantly.

I snorted and flipped through the pages to find the end, only to discover that it was in fact one hundred pages. One hundred and seven to be exact. I let out another groan of frustration and put my head in my hands. Through gritted teeth, I ground out, “I. Am. Dropping. This. Class. As soon as I possibly can. I hate plants!”

Draco laughed, “At least it’s better than stars.”

“How can you even say that?” I asked, “The stars and planets and galaxies are so much more interesting than plants!”

“The stars are hundreds of thousands of miles away from us, how can they possibly be relevant to our existence?”

I scoffed, “And plants live in dirt, can you imagine?”

“I would rather be a plant, living in the ground, than a ball of flame, forced into solitude.” Draco retorted. I raised my brows at him and moments later we had both burst into laughter. He said the strangest things sometimes.

“Now, that does not sound like homework.” Narcissa chastised us as she entered the room, but she was smiling. “What have you done so far?”

“We wrote one of the essays for transfiguration, potions and defense against the dark arts today, wrote to our friend about the muggle studies assignment and now we are reading up on Mimbulus Mimbletonia for a herbology essay.” I said.

She looked taken aback, “All of that in one day?”

Draco and I nodded in unison.

“Damn, Emma, you are welcome to come back every summer, if you make Draco this productive.” Narcissa said. “Now what is this about the muggle studies assignment, what is the assignment?”

“We have to participate in ten different muggle activities.” Draco answered.

“And you intend on completing this assignment with another friend? Who?” Narcissa asked.

“Her name is Hermione, she’s great, and she’s muggleborn so she’ll have good ideas on what to do.” I explained. My heart swelled just a little, when Narcissa, didn’t so much as twitch at the prospect of her son being friends with a muggleborn. I had an inclination that most of the family views came from Lucius and Narcissa just went along with whatever he said. But I had the feeling that, while Lucius was against muggles and muggleborns, Narcissa only cared about the safety and wellbeing of her son. With that knowledge tucked away in the back of my brain, I couldn’t help but like her.

***

Less than a week later, we received Hermione’s response.

**Dear Emma and Draco,**

**I would love to complete the Muggle Studies homework with the two of you. Of course you are welcome to come to my house at any time, my parents would love to meet some of my school friends. When do you think you would come, and how long would you like to stay? I love the play idea, though I don’t think we will be able to go boating. We could get Muggle haircuts though, go to a muggle restaurant, get our ears pierced the Muggle way. We’ve have to think of a few more things once you get here, I’ll try to compile a list of ideas.**

**Hoping you the best,**

**Hermione**

**P.S. You’re going to the World Cup right? I’m going with Harry and the Weasleys, I hope to see you there.**

We immediately sat down to draft a response, this time I made Draco write.

**Dear, Hermione**

**First off, we are in fact attending the World Cup this year. My father intends on making a significant donation to the ministry with the hope of getting us seats in the top box.**

**Secondly, We could come as early as July 9th and stay until the 13th, if that works for you.**

**Third, we can apparate directly to you and complete two activities per day.**

**Fourth, do you think Professor Burbage will count it if only the two of you get your ears pierced? I think my father will murder me if I return home with something dangling from my ear, and that would be before telling him that I let a muggle stab a hole into my head.**

**Finally, it would be fantastic if you could create a list. We will brainstorm as well.**

**See you soon,**

**Draco & Emma**

We tied the letter to Tambor’s leg this time, to give Tully a bit of a break. I didn’t say this out loud, but Tambor was also far faster than Tully would ever be.

***

Hermione’s house was beautiful and by far the largest muggle house I had ever seen. In fact, it was the largest house I had ever seen, aside from Draco’s of course. Even he seemed to be impressed. Hermione greeted us on the front steps and provided a tentative smile in Narcissa’s direction. She returned it, though I noted that it was a tad pinched. I reminded myself that it was progress in the right direction. Baby steps. It was all about baby steps.

Hermione led us out to her sitting room and sat down on a large couch. I sat beside her and Draco perched against the edge of the arm. “Right, so I made a list.” Hermione said, passing a rolled up slice of parchment in our direction.

I took it from her and unraveled it hastily. My eyes nearly bugged out of my skull as the parchment kept unrolling and unrolling... and unrolling.

**Possible Activities for Muggle Studies Summer Work:**

**-fishing**

**-restaurant**

**-sporting event**

**-play**

**-haircut**

**-ears pierced**

**-adopt a pet**

**-go shopping**

**-go fruit picking**

**-see a movie in the theater**

**-go to a theme park**

**-watch a television show**

**-go skateboarding**

**-go roller blading**

**-buy ice cream**

**-light a fire the muggle way**

**-read a muggle book**

**-read a muggle newspaper**

**-grow a muggle plant**

**-make a muggle meal**

**-go to a concert**

**-ride in a muggle taxi**

Draco and I read through the list a few times before looking back at Hermione.

“Alright, let’s get this narrowed down to ten items.” I said.

After several hours of discussion, we finally managed to narrow our list down. We ended out with; watch a play, go roller blading, ride in a muggle taxi, make a muggle meal, adopt a pet, go to a muggle sporting event, get a muggle haircut, get our ears pierced, see a muggle movie and buy an ice cream.

For our play, we chose Phantom of the Opera, and we would ride there in a muggle taxi. Hermione’s parents booked the tickets for us for tomorrow. That left us with two items to do today. We selected to go roller blading and make a muggle meal.

Watching Draco attempt roller blading was just as hilarious as I had hoped it would be. He was absolutely dreadful, though, to be fair, Hermione and I weren’t very good ourselves. We returned to Hermione’s house after two hours, decked out in soon-to-form-bruises. It was just about dinner time, so we decided this was our chance to make a dinner, the muggle way.

Draco grilled the burgers (poorly) while Hermione made the macaroni and I sliced up lettuce, tomato, pickles and onions. I personally adored pickles, almost as much as strawberries. Hermione didn’t like them very much, and to my shock and horror, Draco had never had one before.

“How the hell, have you never had a pickle?” I nearly shouted, “They are absolutely to die for!”

“Yuck, they don’t smell good. Who would choose to consume a tasteless vegetable soaked in vinegar?” He asked, disgusted.

I internally promised myself to remedy his lapse of judgement. “Try one.”

“No.”

“Draco.”

“No.”

“Draco.” I said, a slight edge to my voice, and he caved instantly.

“Fine,” He sighed and picked one up. It immediately began to drip down his arm. I snorted and dabbed at the droplets with a handkerchief. He rolled his eyes at me and pulled away. Slowly, he placed the slice of pickle into his mouth. He chewed for a moment and then swallowed. His face immediately scrunched up into a look of utter disgust.

“Ha!” Hermione burst, “He doesn’t like it!” I scowled and crossed my arms.

“Oh stop it,” Draco said, tugging my arms apart and intertwining our fingers, “I tried it, didn’t I.”

“Just means more for me,” I replied haughtily.

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Hermione said, grinning. “My parents could devour an entire jar in one evening.”

Much to my shock, the burgers were delicious. Draco was rather proud of himself, and I had to admit, I was too.

The taxi ride was terrifying, but the show, made weaving in and out of traffic and nearly dying, worth it. Phantom of the Opera was the best thing I had ever seen, but that could be attributed to the fact that I had never seen another musical in my life.

On the third day, we went to see a football match. Though none of us knew any of the rules, Draco and I became invested in the game. The issue was, we were routing for opposite teams. We tried to get Hermione to take a side, but she refused. She seemed rather uninterested in the game, and I had to remember that sports weren’t really her thing. Afterwards, we bought ice cream. The three of us unanimously decided that magical ice cream was significantly better.

On the fourth day, we each adopted a pet and saw a movie. The movie was incredibly dull and I was so excited to be getting another pet that I could hardly pay attention. The others did not seem to share in my opinion and found the movie to be incredibly insightful and thought provoking. I rushed into the pet shop and immediately began hurrying around the shop. After nearly an hour, I settled on an adorable snake. I took her from her tank and paid, buying all of the necessities for her. While the other two continued looking, I decided to name her Honey. She was really quite cuddly and draped herself around my shoulders, comfortably. A few minutes later, Hermione came out with a tiny hamster and Draco was clutching a chinchilla in his arms.

Hermione was worried that Honey would attack her hamster, but all she did was blink lazily at him.

“Do you think you can speak to her?” Draco asked me, gesturing to Honey. I was confused for a moment before remembering the lie I had told him nearly two years ago.

“Oh! Er- I can’t actually speak full Parseltongue,” I confessed.

“What?” Draco asked, perplexed.

“I made that up, because I wanted to fit in. You know, I was the only Slytherin raised completely by muggles, so I thought, if they thought I was the heir to Slytherin, they wouldn’t hate me.”

Draco laughed, “What do you mean though, ‘full Parseltongue’?”

“Well, I’ve been learning it.” I explained, “So I might actually be able to communicate with her.” I tried, asking her if she liked the name Honey.

And to my surprise and excitement, she replied, ‘Yes, it’s misleading. Hides my danger.’

I laughed and Hermione and Draco looked at me expectantly.

“She likes her name,” I said, nonchalantly.

The last day consisted of changing our appearances. We would all get our hair cut and Hermione and I would get our ears pierced. Both of us would be getting second sets of holes, since we had each already had our ears pierced once. Draco nearly bolted when the stylist started on his hair, but once he realized he wouldn’t be stabbed, he calmed down. The three of us just got a few centimeters cut off, nothing major. Then we moved on to the piercings. While Hermione and I got our ears pierced with long needles, Draco used shopping as his tenth activity. He seemed relieved when Hermione and I joined him, completely unscathed.

I wasn’t bit sad to be returning to the Malfoy’s manor so soon, it had been nice to spend so much time with Hermione. But at least Draco and I would be able to get some more Quidditch practice in before the start of term.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave comments and kudos! Do you like pickles? Personally, I like dill pickles but not the sweet ones. My favorites are spicy pickles though.


	4. The World Cup

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! My iPad is at 2% right now, so nothing else for the moment :)

We were going to be sitting in the top box at the World Cup, something I had never come even close to before. That football game, had been the first sporting event I had ever attended, aside from the school matches. I was positively bursting with excited at the prospect of attending the World Cup, of being around so many witches and wizards. I wondered if Remus and Sirius would be attending. I also wondered what I would do if Sirius was there. Would I tell Draco my secret? I wanted to, desperately. But, still I was unsure if that was wise.

Anything could happen to Sirius at any time and then where would we be? We set up our tent within the first couple minutes of arriving on the campsite. Draco and I were allowed our own tent for the occasion. I was glad of this because Narcissa and Lucius were still mid argument. Lucius thought it was important to demonstrate their wealth by using a three story tent, with the peacocks tied out front. Narcissa thought it was important to maintain anonymity and remain inconspicuous so the muggles wouldn’t grow suspicious.

Draco and I hurried into our tent to escape the heat of August. I knew it would be bigger on the inside, but I was shocked to see just how much bigger it was. We found ourselves standing in a large entrance hall with a high ceiling and a hanging chandelier. We could see straight into a dining area and behind it, a sitting room. There were three doors off of the sitting room, I assumed they would lead to bedrooms, or perhaps a washroom.

“This whole thing if for the two of us?” I asked, shocked.

“No,” he laughed, “It’s for Cyclone, Tully, Honey, Emmett, Latte and Tambor too.”

“Ah, right,” I snorted, “Well, remembering that, this is quite the full house. So, where am I sleeping?”

“You can pick any of the three rooms, each have their own bathrooms, you can take a look before you pick, if you’d like. And you can change the colors, you don’t have to stick with green and silver, I know it gets a bit redundant.” He said, opening the door to the closest room.

I gasped in mock horror, “Draco Malfoy, are you not a true Slytherin fan?”

“I despise green,” He confessed.

I laughed, “I’m glad I’m not the only one. So, what is your favorite color then?”

He contemplated for a moment. “You have to promise not to laugh at me,” He said seriously.

“Alright, I promise,” I said, raising my eyebrows at him.

“Fine,” He paused.

“Well, go on then.” I prompted.

He gathered his courage and said, “Red.”

It was a great effort to keep a straight face with him, “Red?” He was acting as though it was some terrible sin, to secretly like one of Gryffindor’s colors.

“Quite the pair we are, my favorites are yellow and blue. That gets us every house except for our own.” I said and it was true, I loved yellow and blue. Our eyes met and he grinned, my heart leapt just a little.

I ended up picking the room to the left upon entering. Draco chose the one in the middle and the room to the right would remain empty.

“So, which team are you rooting for tomorrow?” I asked.

“Ireland,” Draco answered.

Relief flooded through me, “Oh good. Me too.”

***

It turned out that the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione had somehow managed to score seats in the top box as well. Draco had smiled at Hermione and she had returned it, but Ron scowled at the pair of us, so we didn’t stop to chat. A house elf was in the box too, an empty seat beside her. It was rather peculiar that every seat had not been filled at the World Cup, especially in the top box.

Draco caught me staring, and of course, he thought I was staring at Harry. Though, to be fair, this time it was justified, seeing as the empty seat was right behind Harry. “Is there any particular reason that you like Potter?” Draco asked, attempting nonchalance.

“I don’t like him, and why do you care anyways?” I hissed, no need for anyone to overhear the conversation.

His face colored and he blustered, “I don’t care. I just don’t know what you see in him.”

“Nothing! He’s my-” brother. The word was on the tip of my tongue, but by some force that wasn’t my own, the word would not come out. I struggled for several moments, trying to press it through my lips, but it would not budge. “Damnit!” I cursed in frustration.

“Emma!” Draco growled, “What the hell is going on?”

“I- nothing, it’s just, I don’t like him, why can’t you just believe me?” I asked, slightly annoyed.

“Sorry, I- sorry. What were you looking at?” He asked, backtracking. His voice was softer now, gentler.

“That seat is empty,” I explained, gesturing to the uninhabited seat behind Harry. “Don’t you think it’s a bit odd?”

“That elf is probably reserving it for her master.” Draco reasoned.

“Perhaps.” I said, still unconvinced.

***

The game was the fastest thing I had ever seen. I could hardly keep track of all of the players zooming around the pitch. Ireland was far superior to Bulgaria and I knew they would have a good shot at winning. Their chasers were superb, scoring, againand again. They didn’t even give Bulgaria’s chasers the opportunity to get their hands on the Quaffle.

But Bulgaria’s seeker, now he was really something. Viktor Krum, I thought, might have been his name. This was really a game of the Ireland chasers against Krum. Would the seekers get one hundred and fifty points ahead before Krum caught the snitch?

In the end the Irish chasers won out, but Krum caught the snitch.

“Yes!” Draco and I screamed in unison, getting abruptly to our feet. In the midst of all the clapping and cheering, I glanced over to the house elf. The seat beside her was still empty. Odd.

While Draco and I were making our way down the stairs, to the ground, we ran into Neville and his grandmother. She was a severe looking woman, dressing in thick furs, despite the heat.

“Neville, hey!” I greeted him.

Neville whirled around to face us and a broad grin broke out across his face. “Emma! Draco. This is my gran, Gran, this is Emma and Draco.”

Neville’s grandmother extended a bony hand to Draco and I in turn. “It’s good to finally meet the two of you. I have heard so much about you both.”

“The same to you,” I replied, smiling pleasantly, “Had a good summer, Neville?”

“Yeah, you?”

“Yes, I’ve spent the summer at Draco’s house. We spent a week with Hermione to do our Muggle Studies homework too.”

“Brilliant.”

We ran into Luna and her father, as well as Cho and Cedric. But best of all was when we found the Greengrasses with the Parkinsons, the Davises, Blaise and his mother. I greeted everyone and we all caught up with one another about the summer. Pansy had gone to a place called Bora Bora, which I had never heard of, with her parents. Once Millicent and Theo arrived, Daphne announced that she, Tracey and Astoria had some exciting news to share with all of us.

“So, last year,” Tracey began, “My mom started dating Mr. Greengrass.”

“And, about a week ago,” Daphne continued, “Our dad decided-”

“To propose!” Astoria yelled, unable to contain herself.

“And my mom said yes!” Tracey added.

“So, we’re going to be sisters! Well, step sisters, but it’s practically the same thing!” Daphne said, grinning with excitement.

I hugged the three of them in turn, “I’m so happy for you!”

“We should go back to the tent, celebrate.” Draco suggested. As we began to make our way back to the tent, I noticed Lucius returning to his tent with a large group of men. Narcissa was no where in sight. I shook off the feeling of foreboding and tried to enjoy my time with my friends.

“So, when’s the wedding?” Asked Theo.

“It will be over the Easter holidays, you’re all invited!” Tracey said.

“So, how are we going to celebrate?” Theo asked.

“I vote for spin the wand,” Daphne said.

“Really? You do realize Potter isn’t playing, don’t you?” Blaise joked.

She scowled at him, “What, too chicken?”

“No! Let’s do it.” Blaise retorted.

“Hang on, what’s spin the wand?” I asked, I had never read about it in any of my books.

“We’ve all got to sit in a circle, then someone spins a wand and whoever it lands on, they kiss.” Astoria explained.

I raised my eyebrows, “Oh.” I didn’t know what I had expected, but that certainly wasn’t it.

By the time we finally reached the tent, the sun had already gone through the entire process of setting. We crouched inside and sat on the ground, on the sitting room rug.

“I’ll go first,” Pansy volunteered after a moment’s silence. She pulled out her wand and placed it in the middle of us all. She spun it, it whirled round and round until finally landing on Tracey. Pansy laughed and leaned forward, Tracey did the same and they kissed like it was nothing.

When they pulled apart, Tracey spun her wand and landed on... me. Awkwardly I leaned forward and Tracey pecked me on the lips. There was my first kiss right there.

Then it was my turn to spin and I landed on Blaise. Fantastic. I kissed him, and this one lasted longer than either of the previous kisses had. And this time, I returned it. When I pulled away, Draco was glaring at Blaise.

Blaise spun and landed on Astoria. Blaise glanced at Daph before giving Astoria a quick peck on the lips.

Astoria spun and landed on Theodore.

Theodore landed on Draco.

Draco landed on... Pansy. She smiled at him and leaned forward. As their lips met, a pang of jealousy shot through me. In that moment, I hated Pansy, especially when his hand went to her cheek.

Pansy landed on Astoria.

Astoria landed on Daphne. They laughed and raised their brows at the rest of us.

Then Daph took the wand and spun it, without kissing her sister. The wand stopped, pointing on none of us, but rather pointed between Blaise and Millicent, and out the tent entrance. “Harry’s got to be out there,” Millicent joked, “Go, kiss him.”

Much to our surprise, she jumped up and hurried from the tent. The rest of us stood and followed, shockingly enough, Harry was walking by the tent. Daph ran over to him and went straight for it, not even bothering to greet him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. I scrunched my nose in disgust and looked away. Unfortunately, Draco caught the movement and took it to be a sign of my jealousy. I rolled my eyes at him, but he somehow managed to look away at just the right moment, to miss it.

Without a word, Daph pulled away, turned and reentered the tent, the rest of us right on her heels.

We settled back down and Daph spun the wand again. This time she landed on Theo.

Theo landed on Millicent, who landed on Blaise, who landed on Draco, who landed on... me.

And then...

The screaming began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! I will try to write another chapter tomorrow for you guys! Thank you for all of the support I have gotten so far. Please, please, please leave comments and kudos for me. 
> 
> P.S.
> 
> I spun a wheel to see who would be kissing who.


	5. The After Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here y’all go!

All of us got to our feet in near unison. I looked to the tent entrance, but could see nothing on the other side, I didn’t have the right angle.

“Astoria, stay here!” Daphne hissed before stalking towards the sound. Astoria trailed right on her heels, refusing to remain inside and hidden. The rest of us hurried outside, wands drawn. The sight that I was meant with, made my stomach churn. 

Many tents were on fire, smoke was billowing in all directions, suffocating me and disrupting my vision. People were running away, trying to put out the flames or otherwise trying to stop the wizards causing the mess. Then I saw them, the attackers. They wore long black, hooded cloaks and horrible masks to conceal their faces.

“Death eaters!” Tracey gasped.

Draco groaned.

“What?” I asked.

“Our fathers are drunk,” Theo sighed. Draco nodded his agreement.

“This is your dads?” I asked shrilly. “They’re lighting things on fire?”

Then I saw them. Four figures, hanging upside down by their angles and drifting through the air. The two smaller ones were crying, scared and confused. I recognized them as the campsite manager and his family. They were being bent at odd angles. As we watched, another tent was lit on fire. I took a sharp breath and grabbed Draco’s arm, hissing, “We’ve got to help them.”

“No,” Pansy cried, “We’ve got to go! We can’t go up against a pack of death eaters!” 

The tent beside us was set aflame. That meant our tent was next. Our pets! I darted back into the tent, hissing in Parseltongue as I went, ‘Honey, get out, this tent is about to go up!’ “Emmett! Tambor! Latte! Tully! Cyclone!” I shouted. The cats and owls were quick to leave, but that stupid chinchilla wouldn’t budge. I picked him up and hurried back outside. A second later, our tent was engulfed in flames. 

Everyone scattered, with the fire so close. I ended up with Draco and Daphne, the latter was shrieking for her sister. Draco was trying to console her, “I saw her go into the woods with Tracey and Blaise, she’ll be fine. And then Millicent, Pansy, and Theo went between some tents. Everyone’s going to be alright.”

At his words, I glanced to the hanging muggles.

“Those poor kids,” Daphne whispered, following my gaze.

“We’ve got to help them,” I said. She nodded her agreement, but Draco seemed unsure. “Come on.” I slid behind a rock and crouched out of view. The other two followed suit. 

“What’s the plan?” Asked Draco reluctantly.

“We need to figure out who is levitating each person and stupify them. Then we have to catch the muggles and levitate them safely away from the death eaters.” I said.

“I think that one has got the girl,” Daphne said, pointing at a death eater with her wand. 

“And that one has the boy,” Draco said, gesturing to another.

In unison, they whispered, “Stupify.” The death eaters collapsed to the ground in a flurry of red light. 

The children began to fall and I hissed, “Wingardium Leviosa.” It was a struggle to catch them both, but I managed, and whisked them away quickly. But now the death eaters were angry and on alert, despite being drunk. They were turning on the spot, searching for any sign of the people who had stolen their game pieces. 

I pressed my fingers to my lips, indicating for the children to keep silent. Carefully, the five of us backed away into the shelter and shadow of the trees. As soon as we were out of sight, we ran. After several minutes, we deemed it safe enough to stop.

One of the children was crying, I ignited my wand tip to see which one it was. The little boy, he was younger than his sister, no older than four. I crouched down in front of him. “Hey, buddy, it’s okay. I’m Emma, what’s your name?”

He sniffled but didn’t answer. I looked to his big sister, who was plainly terrified, but trying to be brave. “Are you a magician?”

“Yes, all three of us are.” I answered, gesturing to the other two who had also lit their wands.

“How?” She whispered, awed.

“We go to a magical school, called Hogwarts.” Daphne said.

“Can I go there?” The girl asked.

“If you have magic in you, then you’ll get a letter on your eleventh birthday. How old are you?” I asked her.

“Seven,” She answered proudly, “I’m going to be eight in three days.”

“That’s when magic starts to show itself.” I said, “So, if you have magic, you’ll start doing it soon.”

“I can already do magic.” She said,

“Like what?” I asked.

“I’m not supposed to show this to anyone,” She said, suddenly shy.

“You know, there are a lot of things that I’m not supposed to show anyone either. Would you like to see one of those things?” I smiled at her. She nodded hesitantly. “Okay, ready? Expecto Patronum!” Out from my wand, came my fox patronus. She hopped around, prancing and rolling before the children. The boy stopped crying and began to giggle, clapping his chubby hands together. A smile broke out across the girl’s face.

“Okay, I’ll show you, but you can’t tell anyone.” She said softly. Then she scrunched up her face and squeezed her eyes shut. A moment later, her features began to shift, her eyes turned from brown to green, her skin lightened and dotted with freckles, and her hair turned from its original black to a vibrant red. She grew taller.

And then I was staring at an exact replica of myself. I gaped at her.

“It’s like she’s taken a poly juice potion,” I hissed to Daphne.

“That’s brilliant,” Daphne praised and the girl beamed. She turned her hair, my hair, a bright pink, then blue, then she made herself taller, shorter. After manipulating her features for a couple more minutes, she turned back to herself.

“Can I try that spell, the fox one?” She asked. 

I passed her my wand. “Yes, but it takes a lot of practice and requires the correct wand. Since this is my wand, it won’t work as well for you. You’ll need your own wand to be really good.”

“What do I say?” She asked.

“Expecto...”

“Expecto.”

“Patronum.”

“Patronum.”

“Good now all at once, Expecto Patronum.”

“Expecto Patronum.”

“Prefect, now the next time you say it, think of a really happy memory you have. Got it?” She nodded. “Okay, now keep thinking about that memory and say the spell.”

“Expecto Patronum!” Blue sparks shot out of the wand and her brother squealed in delight. 

“That was great!” I said, “Once you get to school, they’ll teach you how to make an animal when you do it.”

“How long have you been at that school?” She asked.

“I will be starting my fourth year in September. So that means the three of us will be in our seventh year when you’re in your first year.”

“What if I don’t get my letter?” She asked, suddenly scared.

“How about this, you give me your name and I will give it to the Headmaster, so that he knows you are magical, how does that sound?” 

“My name’s Marley Keyes and my brother is Jasper.” She said, her smile renewed.

“Marley, that’s a beautiful name,” Said Daphne.

“Why they fly us?” Asked Jasper, his eyes wide.

To my surprise, Draco answered, “Because they aren’t very nice people and they’re cranky because they missed their nap time.”

Jasper giggled and my heart swelled for Draco.

Suddenly, there was a crashing sound, nearby us, along with the rustling of leaves and the voices of several people. Daph, Draco and I raised our wands in the direction of the noise. But I lowered mine as soon as I saw who it was.

Harry, Hermione and Ron tripped into the little clearing. Draco and Daphne lowered theirs as well. 

“Oh my god!” Hermione shouted, running over, then quieter, “You got the kids!”

“Yeah, we couldn’t get the parents though, the death eaters were paying attention after we took the children.” Daph said, looking at Harry. She was like a hopeful puppy, seeking approval from her master. 

“Morsmordre!” A deep voice shouted from somewhere to my left. My head snapped in that direction, just in time to see a green light shoot into the air. A skull formed in the air with a snake slithering into its open mouth.

“Stupify!” I shouted in the direction of the castor, for I knew that sign, that was the sign that meant Voldemort, or one of his followers, had killed someone. I ran over to the edge of the clearing and into the line of the trees, only to find... a house elf. The very house elf who had been sitting in the top box during the Quidditch Match.

Draco hurried over to join me, but stopped when he saw the little elf’s body. “Someone else was here.” He said, “House elf’s voices are too high pitched, this one could not have cast the spell.” He bent down and picked up something off the ground, “Even if she did have a wand.”

“The real culprit must have left it here, to frame the elf.” I said. Suddenly the clearing was surrounded by ministry officials. All of them had their wands out and pointed directly at Daph, Harry, Ron and Hermione. I saw that the nearest ministry member was Arthur Weasley. “Mr. Weasley! We didn’t do this. There was someone here, they left a wand and an elf.” Mr. Weasley took the wand from my hand and told the other ministry members to stand down.

“Hey! That’s my wand!” Harry said, when he saw what Mr. Weasley was holding. I internally groaned, of course Harry’s wand had been used to cast the dark mark into the sky. 

A man walked forward and took the wand, he then preformed a spell that made Harry’s wand produce a smaller version of the dark mark. “So what, Potter? You thought this would be some sort of funny joke, did you?” The man growled.

“Amos!” Mr. Weasley said crossly, “Do you really think Harry would do something like this?”

“There’s a house elf over here.” I called, drawing everyone’s attention.

Another man came over to examine the elf.

“Who is it Barty?” Asked Amos.

“It’s...” Barty looked torn, “It’s Winky, my elf.” Then he started frantically fumbling around in the tall grasses for any hint of someone else.

“She didn’t do it!” Hermione burst out, “We heard a voice, and it was much deeper, it couldn’t have been her who cast the spell.”

“Is she dead?” Asked Amos, “She could be the death the mark is referring to.”

“No, she’s not dead, just stunned.” Mr. Weasley said, drawing nearer to her. 

“Then whoever cast the mark, stunned her.” Amos said, as he jumped to yet another false conclusion.

“No, I stunned her,” I said. “I meant to stun whoever cast the spell, but he was already gone and the spell hit her instead.”

“Let’s wake her then,” Mr. Weasley suggested, “Perhaps she saw whoever did it.”

“Renervate,” Barty whispered, tapping Winky in the chest. She gasped awake.

“Winky,” Mr. Weasley said kindly, “Do you know who sent the dark mark into the sky?”

“No, mister. Winky isn’t seeing anyone casting spell of death into the sky. Winky is finding a wand on the ground and Winky is being knocked out, but Winky isn’t seeing anyone.” Winky said squeakily.

“Did you use the wand to cast it?” Amos asked menacingly.

“No, I is not casting spell, I is not knowing how. I is not using wizard’s wand, I is finding it and I is picking it up and getting knocked out. I is not using it!” Winky said.

“Amos!” Mr. Weasley chastised.

“How dare you accuse my elf! Your judgement has gone askew Mr. Diggory! You have now accused the two least likely people in this clearing, Harry Potter and myself!”

I coughed loudly, “Excuse me!” Once all heads had turned in my direction, I said, “The two children are right here and I am sure they would like to get back to their parents. We were protecting them, while the lot of you were off doing who knows what. And it is late, all of us,” I gestured around at all of my friends and my brother. “Are tired and need sleep. So, we’ll be off as soon as you get the kids back to their parents.” I snapped, incredibly tired and annoyed.

“Who do you think you are?” Barty spat, getting right up in my face. I held his gaze, refusing to back down.

“Emma,” Draco said, “Let’s just go.”

“You better watch it boy!” Barty hissed. “You and your mother are on thin ice right now.”

“Don’t talk about my mother.” Draco growled, “If my father knew that-”

“If your father knew, he would do nothing! He was apprehended along with seventeen other death eaters, all of whom will spend the rest of their lives in Azkaban!” Barty said, getting right up in Draco’s face and pointing his wand menacingly at him.

“Back off!” I ground out, pointing my own wand at Barty.

“Emma!” Harry and Mr. Weasley said warningly. I lowered my wand and stepped back, grabbing Draco’s hand and pulling him back too.

“Come on,” I whispered.

“One more thing!” Barty snapped, taking another step forward. “Your mother is on watch, a probation of sorts. So, she is under house arrest and therefore, you cannot live with her until further notice.” Draco’s jaw dropped, as did mine.

“Where am I supposed to go?” He asked.

“That is for you to figure out. I have bigger things to deal with.” And without another word, he stalked off. A ministry woman took Jasper and Marley, presumably to modify their memories and return them to their parents. I pulled Draco away, out of the clearing.

As soon as we were out of earshot, Draco said, “I’m sorry Emma, I’m sorry you can’t stay at my house anymore.”

“Draco, this isn’t your fault.” I said, “We’ll figure this out.” 

Daphne ran to catch up with us, “We have to find everyone else, figure out what to do now.”

I nodded and we continued the long trek back to the wreckage of our tent. Only, it wasn’t a wreckage, out tent was entirely in tack, aside from the fact that it was still on fire.

“Aguamenti!” It was only a couple minutes before the fire was put out and Draco, Daphne and I carefully reentered. Everything was entirely intact, with not so much as a single scorch mark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments, kudos, next chapter up tomorrow... hopefully :)
> 
> And a special thank you to my beta, Appie, for sticking with me through all of these updates! You’re the best.


	6. It Was Fun While It Lasted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I know it has been a while. The last time I posted a chapter was nearly a week ago and I am sorry for the wait. However, I have had a lot of personal things going on and I literally did not have any time to write. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you like the chapter, and I will work hard to get out the next one as soon as I possibly can. I am not making any promises though. So do not expect a chapter everyday for the time being.

Astoria, Tracey and Blaise returned to the tent a few minutes later. None of their parents were death eaters so they had nothing to worry about. A few heartbeats later Pansy, Millicent and Theo entered, in considerably lowered spirits than when they had last been in the tent. I knew exactly why, Theo’s father was a death eater as well and he had likely been caught, just like Lucius.

Theo rushed over to Draco and immediately asked, “Was your father caught too?”

Draco nodded slowly, his face falling. “Yeah, Crouch told me himself, are you still allowed to stay at home?”

“No, my dad’s girlfriend is under watch now and she wasn’t much of a mother to begin with.” Theo explained.

“One of you could probably stay with me, but I doubt my mother would be willing to host all three of you.” Blaise said, “And she would die of horror if I asked her to let a girl stay with us, sorry Em.”

I shrugged, “It’s fine. I’ll be alright. I can figure it out.” My brother was with the Weasleys, hopefully they’d be willing to take me in too. No, I had no reason to worry for myself, it was Draco and Theo that had me nervous. I was glad that Blaise had the space and hospitality for one of them. But where would the other go?

Daphne solved that for us with her next words. “Theo could probably stay with us, don’t you think Trace? I mean, I know our parents are against having boys stay over, but that shouldn’t apply, since you aren’t into girls Theo.”

“Yeah, I think they would let you stay with us for the rest of the summer.” Tracey said, nodding her agreement.

“Perfect.” I said.

But, Millicent furrowed her brow in confusion.

“Em, you haven’t got a place to stay, how is that perfect?” She asked.

“Em, you can stay with us too,” Astoria offered.

I shook my head. “I can figure it out. You’ve already got a lot going on, I don’t want to impose on that. I’ll stay with Hermione or Neville.” I reasoned. I didn’t consider it to be a complete lie, I would be with Hermione after all, just at the Burrow, rather than her house. “In fact, I ought to go arrange that now.” I stood and when Draco rose with me, said, “Draco, it’s fine, really. I can go on my own.” Without a word, he resumed his seat.

Minutes later, I came across Fred and George walking down the gravel path, only a dozen yards ahead.

“Fred! George!” I called, rushing up to join them.

George propped his elbow on my head, per usual, pointing out the extreme difference in height between us. I ducked out of his reach with a scowl.

“What’s that look for?” Fred asked.

“Trouble in paradise?” George finished.

“Screw you.” I hissed, but there was no venom in my words. The twins grinned broadly at me. “I need a place to stay.” I said flatly.

“Lovely.” Fred said and continued on walking.

“If I recall correctly, my brother just so happens to have taken up residence at your house.” I pushed.

“And?” George prompted. Of course, they would never let me do this the easy way. Everything with them was always a battle... and I loved them for it.

“Can I come stay with you?” I asked.

“Ah, I thought you’d never ask.” Fred said, grinning at me.

“I suppose you could come with us.” George said contemplatively. “Back to the tent and ask our father.”

The tent turned out to be only a few minutes walk from where we had met up. Everyone was there when we entered.

“Are you alright?” Hermione asked, dashing over to me as soon as I entered. Ginny was right behind her, looking worried.

“Yeah, I’m fine, really.” I reassured them, “Draco and Theo, on the other hand... I’m not so sure. Theo’s mom died a while back, so he’s got no one now and Draco’s mom is on watch. Neither of them can stay at home, which means that I can’t stay with Draco either. I think Draco will stay with Blaise, and Theo will be with Astoria, Tracey and Daph, but nothing is for sure yet.”

“Daph- Daphne,” Ron said, “Isn’t she the one who kissed Harry?” Ever focused on the important things.

“Yes.” I said flatly.

“Well?” He asked, when I didn’t continue. “Why’d do that?”

I scoffed, “I’m shocked Ronald. You’re even dumber than you look, which is really saying something. I thought it was quite obvious that she kissed him because she likes him.”

Fred and George sniggered from a corner of the tent. Ron shot them a glare before turning back to me. “But she’s a Slytherin. And well... Harry’s a Gryffindor.”

“Congratulations Ronald. I am glad to see that your astute levels of observation remain in tact after such extensive use.” I said, crossing my arms, to the continued laughter from the twins.

Ron scowled at me and growled, “You know what I mean.”

“Yes, I know that you are entirely prejudice against all Slytherins just because none of us like you. But perhaps you ought to stop and think, is it really a problem with us, or a problem with you?”

“If you paid any attention, you’d notice that none of the Gryffindor’s parents were caught parading around, lighting things on fire!” Ron retorted.

“That’s enough!” Hermione hissed, but I spoke over her.

“My friends are not their parents!” I burst out.

Ron opened his mouth to say something else, but Harry silenced him with a single look. Just then, Mr. Weasley hurried into the tent, looking exhausted. His eyes scanned over us, distractedly and he had to do a double take when he saw me.

“Ah, Emma!” He said, offering me a smile, which I returned immediately.

“Mr. Weasley, do you know who’s been caught?”

“Yes, there were eighteen people caught in total, though not all of them had the dark mark. All of them had those terrible masks on and were endangering us all. Let’s see here, there was Nott, Malfoy, Crabbe and his wife, Goyle and his wife, Avery, Macnair, Jugson, Rabastan and his daughter, Dolohov, Rookwood, Mulciber and his wife and two sons, and one more... Oh yes! Rookwood’s wife.” Mr. Weasley explained, ticking off the death eaters on his fingers. “Oh but you were staying with the Malfoys weren’t you?”

“Yes, I was.”

“Have you found a place to stay? You’re always welcome at the burrow, Molly would love to have you.” Mr. Weasley offered.

“Thank you, that is very kind. Do you know what is going to happen to everyone who was caught?”

“They are all being sent to Azkaban to await trials. The trials will not conclude until late winter, maybe early spring. It will be a while for sure though.”

“Right, okay, thanks.” I said, softly, thinking of Draco and the months he would have to wait to find out the fate of his father. “And what of the people who have been put under watch?”

“Those suspected of being a part of the rioting will be watched for six months, and if they do nothing suspicious during that time, then they will no longer be suspects and their children will be allowed to return to them.”

I nodded, lips pursed, “Okay, thanks.”

“Will you be staying with us? We are leaving first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, I just need to go to the Malfoy’s manor really quickly to get all of my things. I only brought enough here for one night, everything else is still at their house. I’ll go talk to Narcissa, see if I can get my things now.” I suggested.

“Alright... but Emma. Be careful.” Mr. Weasley warned.

I looked at Mr. Weasley for a long minute, thinking through every possible response. “I always am.”

I walked alone through the darkness that was the campgrounds. I kept my wand grasped tightly in my hand, ready for any sign of danger within a moments notice. I heard something, just the slight brush of shifting blades of grass. I would take no chances. “Lumos.” Everything around me illuminated, to reveal... a rat. On instinct, I stomped down on its tail. Pettigrew. I pointed my wand at him, prepared to turn him into a human, when a figure materialized out from the darkness. A man, with dark hair and a mad look in his eyes.

And when he spoke, I recognized his voice, “Stupefy!” As my consciousness faded, I knew, he had been the one to cast the dark mark into the sky.

When I awoke, I knew I hadn’t been out for very long, nothing felt stiff or sore. I still had my wand, but Pettigrew was long gone. I knew there was nothing to be done. And I knew I needed to get my things from Draco’s house. So I stood and I walked the rest of the way to Narcissa’s tent, all the while mentally chastising myself for not reacting quickly enough.

“Mrs. Malfoy,” I greeted, entering the tent slowly. She was hunched over a desk, writing a letter,by the look of it, and she jumped at my words.

When she saw that it was only me, she relaxed and let out a sigh of relief, “Oh, Emma, hi. What can I do for you?”

“I’m sorry about your husband and everything.” I began.

“Thank you,” She replied, “And I’m sorry that you can’t stay with us anymore.”

“It’s no problem and not your fault in the slightest, but I do need my things from your house. Could we apparate there quickly so I can pack?” I asked.

“Of course.” She said and took my hand. Then we were turning on the spot and I felt as though I was being squeezed and pushed and prodded and then my feet were on solid ground again. I opened my eyes and discovered that we were standing two hundred meters away from the entrance to Malfoy Manor.

We strode forward and Narcissa unlocked the front door. We went to the bedroom that I had been given and she helped me to pack away all of my belongings back into my trunk. Everything only took around five minutes to pack but it felt like an eternity. I didn’t want to go. I did not want to spend the rest of summer trapped in the same house as Ron. But I did miss my brother. And if I wanted to see him, I would need to put up with his best friend. For Harry, I could do it, or at least try to.

At least I liked the rest of his family. Fred and George were witty, brilliant and always up for a good joke. Percy was smart and driven, focused and always willing to give good advice. Ginny was sharp as a knife and a greater conversationalist. Charlie was adventurous and knew everything there was to know about magical creatures. And Bill was kind... and well, there was no other way of putting it... extremely attractive. Molly was kind and caring, if not a little overbearing sometimes. And Mr. Weasley was passionate and excited. How had Ron turned out so blunt, crude and idiotic?

“Finished?” Narcissa asked, stepping back to scan the room for any forgotten items.

I followed suit. “I think so.”

“Alright,” She said, reaching out her hand to me, while taking my trunk in her other. And just like that, we disapparated back to the campsite.

In parseltongue I hissed, ‘Honey, we’re switching tents, get the others please.’ Seconds later, all of my animals had left the tent and came to join me. I scooped Latte into my arms and he promptly began chewing on my hair. I let out a laugh and playfully swatted him away from it.

“Emma.” Narcissa said softly.

“Yeah?” I asked, looking up at her.

“Listen to me, if you ever need somewhere to stay, if you ever can’t find anywhere to go, my house is always open to you. No matter if I am not supposed to have minors inside, I don’t care. You shouldn’t ever have to go back to your aunt and uncle’s house again, do you understand? You will always be welcome in this house, no matter what.” She said, grasping my hands in her own soft ones.

I nodded, meeting her eyes, “Thank you.”

She gave me a small smile as I turned away. I levitated my trunk into the air and set down Latte, before hurrying into the tent where Draco and I had slept. Everyone was still in there when I retuned. Behind me, they could see my floating trunk and were able to put two and two together.

“You’re leaving now.” Millicent said, it wasn’t a question.

“Yes, and I’ll miss you all. But it’s only a week right?” I said.

Draco came over to me, a sympathetic smile on his face, “Yeah, only a week. I’ll miss you too.” I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face into his neck, he returned the gesture instantly.

“I’m really gonna miss you,” I murmured to him.

“Hey, hey,” He whispered right back, “Only a week, that’s no time at all.”

***

When I returned to the Weasley’s tent, Mr. Weasley was gone again. Hermione, Ginny, Harry, Ron, Fred and George were all sitting around a small table, speaking in hushed voices. They all stopped as soon as they noticed my presence.

Ron recoiled when he saw Honey, “When did you get that thing?!”

“Honestly, Ronald, relax, she’s friendly.” I scoffed.

Behind me, Honey hissed, ‘I wouldn’t be so sure about that, I’ll eat him for you, if you ask nicely.’

I laughed and hissed back, ‘Thanks, but not now, I’ll keep it in mind.’

Ron jumped back from the table, pointing a finger accusingly at me. “You didn’t tell us you were a Parselmouth too!”

I sighed and massaged my temples. “Ronald, I don’t talk to you, therefore, I do not see how the languages I choose to converse in, are any of your business.”

Ron sputtered for a moment before he said, “Well it’s Harry’s business and did he know?”

Ginny answered, “Ron, the whole school knew, the rumor was going around during my first year.” I crossed my arms, widened my stance and raised my eyebrows in silent challenge.

“Well the rumors were wrong, I wasn’t born a Parselmouth, I lied about it.” I said.

“Then how the hell did you just speak it?” Ron growled. I rolled my eyes at him.

“I learned Ronald. You know, learning, something intelligent people do to become even more so. You should try it sometime, instead of leeching off of everyone around you!”

“That isn’t something you can just learn!” He hollered.

“Well I did.”

“Emma, Ron’s right, no one has learned to speak Parseltongue... well ever.” Hermione reasoned, stepping between us.

“There’s a first time for everything.” I retorted.

“Yes, but, according to all of my research, it should be impossible to learn.” Hermione pressed.

“Hermione, haven’t you realized by now, nothing is impossible.”

“Magic follows a specific set of rules. It is logical.” Hermione said.

“And magic can be made to do anything, if developed and manipulated the correct way, by the correct person. I did that. I figured it out.” I said, doing my best to be patient with my friend.

“That isn’t how it works!” Hermione said, insistent.

“Magic works just as science does!” I exclaimed. “The sooner you start thinking of it that way, the sooner you will be able to accomplish the unimaginable.”

My mind flashed back to Pettigrew and the man who had knocked me out. I should tell them, I knew I should tell them. But I didn’t want Harry to worry, nor did I want to admit that kind of weakness in front of Ron. So, I kept my mouth shut. But my thoughts began to wander further. Accomplish the unimaginable. Pettigrew and the other Marauders had managed to do that when they had become unregistered animagi while still in school. If they could do it, so could I. And then, unlimited possibilities would be open to me.

My animagi form would likely be a fox, seeing as that was my patronus. But they didn’t always match one another. A patronus could change with a change in attraction, but an animagi form represented one’s true self. But since I wasn’t in love with anyone, I knew my patronus was an accurate representation. Maybe I could get Draco to become an animagus with me, I would certainly need the help.

“We have to get up early tomorrow, Emma, you, Hermione and I are sleeping in the other tent. We should go, get some sleep.” GInny suggested.

I nodded and gave Harry a quick hug before leaving the tent. ‘Come on’ I hissed to Honey. The other animals followed along too.

The other tent was smaller, but it smelled significantly better than the first. There were two sets of bunk beds. Ginny and Hermione had each claimed a bottom bunk, so I clambered up onto one of the top bunks and settled in. Latte and Emmett came up and curled beside me. Tambor perched on the bedpost and Honey wrapped herself into a pile on the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! And please remember to leave comments and kudos!


	7. Only a Week

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

Hermione and Ginny sat down on the same bunk, diagonal from me, making it clear that they were looking to talk, not to sleep.

I stared at them, waiting expectantly.

Hermione was the first to cave, “Does Daphne really like Harry or was she just messing with him?”

“She really likes him.” I said, trying to hide my smile. This was what they wanted to talk about?

“And? What do you think of her?” Asked Ginny.

“I think she’s nice, reliable, well rounded and level headed. I think she could be good for him. She can talk sense into him when he stops seeing reason.” I said thoughtfully.

Ginny nodded glumly.

“Hang on, do you still like him?” I asked, surprised.

“Yeah,” Ginny confessed, “Do you think I’ve got a chance?”

“I don’t know, he can be pretty stupid sometimes. Right now, he likes that Ravenclaw girl, the seeker, Cho Chang, but she’s dating Hufflepuff’s seeker, Cedric Diggory, so that won’t happen. I hope he gets over that soon, Cho and Cedric have been dating the whole time I’ve been at Hogwarts. You and Daphne are both better options for him, so I’ll be rooting for you.” I said.

“Really?” Hermione gasped, “He likes Cho? But he’s never even had a conversation with her!”

“Yeah, the attraction is rather shallow.” I said. “Hermione, do you like anyone?”

She blushed so deeply that I knew the answer was a resounding yes.

“I’ll tell you who, but you can’t laugh.” She said.

“Okay,” I said.

“Promise.” She insisted,

“I promise I won’t laugh.” She turned to look at Ginny, who repeated my words.

“Alright, I like Ron.” She burst out. My eyes widened in horror and shock. Ron? How could anyone possibly like him?

“Really? Ron?” I asked skeptically.

“Yes, Ron.” She said, folding her arms over her chest, “Do you really hate him or are you pretending, I can never tell?”

“I don’t hate him. Hate is such a strong word. I just find him incredibly annoying. Like a brother, except I don’t tend to find Harry annoying. So he’s like the brother I never had.”

“How can you never find your brother annoying?” Ginny asked, “All of my brothers annoy me.”

“It’s different for us. Think about it, we grew up in a cupboard under the stairs. We had to get along, to survive. He took care of me, we didn’t have the usual sibling relationship, because we had to rely on one another. You didn’t need to rely on your brothers, because you had your parents.” I explained. “So, now Ron, along with your other brothers, have taken up the role of being my brothers. And I just happen to find him more annoying than the rest.”

“Does that make me your sister?” Ginny asked.

“Yes.” I said, “That is, if you want to be. You’re like a sister to me.”

“So, Em, do you like anyone?” Hermione prodded. Now it was my turn to blush. I knew exactly who I liked, but that didn’t mean I wanted to share it with them. “Oh come on Emma, we told you.”

“Fine. I, er, Draco.” I mumbled.

“I knew it,” Hermione said loudly. She seemed rather proud of herself.

Ginny nodded her head in agreement. “It was pretty obvious.”

“Do you think Harry knows?” I asked, worried now.

“No, he hasn’t got a clue.” Hermione said, “He’s oblivious.”

“So,” Ginny said, “Have you kissed him yet?”

“No!” I gasped.

“Really? You’ve been living with him!” Ginny said.

“Yes and you’ve been living with Harry. Hermione’s been living with Ron, and neither of you have kissed either of them, have you?”

Both shook their heads in unison.

“Exactly.” I said, my point had been proven. “We should make a pact.”

“A pact?”

“Yes, we should all go with the people we like, to the Yule Ball.” I said, firmly.

“The what?” Asked Ginny.

“The Yule Ball. The holiday ball, it happens during every TriWizard Tournament.” I explained. Mr. Malfoy had told Draco and me all about the event, that would be taking place this year at Hogwarts, over a month ago.

“What’s the TriWizard Tournament?” Asked Ginny.

My eyes widened in utter shock, How did she not know about this? I looked to Hermione, but she seemed just as in the dark as Ginny.

“Really? Neither of you know about the Tournament?”

“No!” They said at the same time.

“Really? I’m surprised. It’s this competition, between three schools. This year it’ll be Durmstrang and Beauxbaton, along with Hogwarts of course. Each school will have one champion and the champions will compete in three challenges. The winner will get one thousand galleons.”

“One thousand galleons! That’s insane.” Ginny gasped out.

“Yeah, but it’s really difficult, and dangerous. I don’t think I’ll go after it, do you think you’ll try?” I asked them.

“Definitely not,” Hermione said, “We haven’t had enough schooling to win, and I don’t need the money, someone else deserves the shot over me.”

“Fred and George will probably go for it,” Ginny said, “They might have a shot of winning, even, but I don’t think I’m ready. Like Hermione said, too young.”

***

We woke up before the sun had even risen, the next morning. I felt as though weights were trying their best to pull my eyelids down, keep them closed. It was a great effort to force them opened. Shockingly enough, that was where my exhaustion began and ended. The rest of me was completely awake. I was ready to get off of this campsite. I was ready to go home.

But then I remembered. I really didn’t have a home. I had places in which I was a guest. But those were other people’s homes. There was the Burrow, the Malfoy Manor, Hogwarts, but those places weren’t mine, and they never would be. I was always bouncing around from place to place, never staying long enough for it to become anything more than another place I’d visited.

I rolled out of bed, forgetting that I was on the top bunk, but miraculously, I still managed to land on my feet.

Hermione let out a little shriek of surprise, from the bunk below mine. Clearly she had not been expecting me to just drop from the sky right in front of her. I let out a laugh as Honey wound her way around my shoulders. ‘Good morning, did you sleep well?’ I hissed to Honey.

‘Yes, where are we going now?’ She asked.

‘The Burrow, it’s the Weasley’s house.’ I answered.

“That’s still really creepy,” Ginny said, mimicking a shiver of fear. I stood on Hermione’s bunk and scooped Latte and Emmett off of my own.

“Time to go boys.” I cooed. “You too Tambor, we’re going to the Burrow, plenty of field mice for the four of you to catch.” Tambor twittered happily, mice were her favorite. The other three enjoyed them too.

We left the tent and took it down hastily, all of us knew that Mrs. Weasley would likely be worried sick about everyone. It was best to get to the Burrow as fast as we possibly could. We beat the boys taking down our tent, something Ginny was not going to let the twins live down anytime soon.

We hurried to the port key, a dirty old shoe, laying among the roots of a gnarled tree. Everyone crowded around it, everyone touching a little part of it. I was glad the animals were smart enough to understand, each of them making sure they were touching some bit of my skin. ‘Prepare yourself Hon, this is going to feel a bit strange.’

Then we were being shoved through a small space, spinning, whirling, at dizzying speed, there was no air, it was impossible to breathe, I was suffocating. And then everything stopped. The world was normal again.

We were on a hilltop, covered in lush, bright green grass. The sky was beginning to brighten, but the sun had yet to make its appearance. The air had begun its welcome, turning to golds and pinks in preparation for when the light would grace us with its presence.

I stood and brushed the dirt particles from my jeans and T-shirt. Latte seemed to be quite shaken, so I plucked him from the ground and cradled him in my arms. He let out a kitten’s mew and buried his face into my arm. “Oh, you poor baby.” I crooned, scratching behind his ears soothingly. “How far to your house?” I asked no one in particular.

Fred was the one to answer, “If you run, you could be there in twenty minutes, walking will take a bit longer.”

“It’s like four kilometers away.” George added.

“Yay. I love walking.” I said flatly.

***

A half hour and four kilometers later, we finally came upon the Burrow. The sun had finally decided to grace us with her presence, casting the Burrow into golden rays and making it seem almost angelic.

And there was Mrs. Weasley, rushing out of the house, tears glistening in her eyes. She ran towards us, straight into Fred and George. She wrapped her arms around them and began sobbing and apologizing for yelling at them. Clearly I had missed something while I was at the Malfoy’s house. Next she turned and embraced me, still crying, “Oh Emma, dear, it’s so good to see you!”

“Good to see you too, Mrs. Weasley,” I responded.

“Oh of course dear, you know you’re always welcome here, no matter what.” She assured me. I highly doubted that, ‘no matter what’ was a statement that promised untruthfulness. If I killed one of her sons, I was sure that would be enough to revoke my access to her home, not that I had any intention of actually killing Ron.

She welcomed us all into the house and bustled about the kitchen, cooking us a delicious smelling breakfast. The sizzling of bacon made my mouth water and my stomach rumble. But it wasn’t until the fluffy pancakes, fruit, bacon and biscuits were placed before me, that I truly realized how hungry I was. The others seemed to be feeling the same thing, for we all dug in immediately. The only sounds in the room while we ate, were the scrapings of our knives and forks against our plates.

The rest of the week passed slowly, with a lot of Quidditch. The highlight of which was when I finally surpassed Harry’s seeker abilities, much to Ron’s dismay. Hermione had made a remark about me giving Gryffindor a run for its money during the Quidditch matches this year, and I had had to tell everyone that there would be no Quidditch this year because of the tournament. Ron, of course, had been furious that I hadn’t told the rest of them about the tournament and then Mr. Weasley had been disappointed that it wouldn’t be a surprise. Fred and George had immediately began brainstorming about what the tasks could possibly be and how they could beat them. Ron and Harry had also decided that they wanted to enter too, and they had even gotten Hermione to consider the idea. I still had no desire to enter, there was nothing to be gained from competing and besides, it seemed like it would be fun to watch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos please!


	8. The Goblet of Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the support I have received on these books thus far! I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

I was very happy to be on platform nine and three quarters once more. I was even happier to see my Slytherin friends again. I spotted Tracey first, with Daphne, Theo, Astoria, and another girl who looked like Tracey, only mini.

I joined them, quickly embracing Daphne, Astoria, Theo and Tracey in turn.

“Emma, this is my sister, Alyssa, this will be her first year at Hogwarts.” Tracey said, gesturing to her sister.

I reached out my hand, taking hers in my own, “Nice to meet you, Alyssa.”

She offered me a small smile and replied, “Nice to meet you too.”

And then I saw him... Draco. He was materializing through the barrier, Blaise at his side. Before I knew what I was doing, my legs were carrying me to him and my arms were wrapping themselves around him. I buried my face into his neck as his arms encircled me.

“I missed you,” I whispered. He pulled back and scrutinized me, his gray eyes filled with such a softness that I melted a little. I had missed him so much.

“It was only a week, Em.” He reassured me, squeezing my shoulders gently.

“I know.” I muttered. I focused my line of sight on my worn and dirty sneakers. I really needed to purchase a new pair. These ones were far too small and it was a shock that they didn’t have any holes yet.

“Hey,” My eyes darted back up, to meet Draco’s gaze. “I missed you too, Em.”

“What, you didn’t miss me?” Blaise joked, knocking his shoulder into mine.

“Of course I missed you.” I said, offering him a one armed hug. “So, what did you lot do, how’d you choose to spend your week?”

“Guy stuff,” Blaise said at the same time as Draco spoke.

“We played chess and Quidditch mostly. Blaise might have a shot at taking up the open position for chaser this year.”

I raised my eyebrows at them and let out a snort. “Really, Blaise? ‘Guy stuff’ those are literally the same things that I did.”

He offered me and apologetic grin. “Well shorty, what can I say, you’re practically one of the guys.”

“I’m not sure whether or not to take that as a compliment.” I joked.

An arm came to wrap around my shoulder, “Oh trust me,” Pansy said, “That’s definitely a compliment.”

“Pansy!” I said, “Good to see you.”

“Damn Em, you act like we haven’t seen each other in a decade.” Pansy laughed. “It’s been a week.”

“I know,” I said, “Everyone keeps reminding me.”

We made our way through the crowd to rejoin Daphne and the others.

“Anyone seen Millicent?” Theo asked.

“Nope,” Draco answered as I shook my head. An instant later, Millicent strode over to join us.

“Impeccable timing as always,” Daphne commented, “Now, the train leaves soon, we ought to get our compartments.”

“If we can get a big one again, then we can all fit together,” Pansy noted.

“Actually...” Astoria began, a slight flush coloring her cheeks, “I was planning on meeting up with my other friends, Alyssa, you can come too, if you want.” Alyssa nodded and together they started up the stairs. But, Alyssa was clearly struggling with her trunk.

“Here, Alyssa, I can help you with that.” I offered, rushing toward to take it from her.

“Thanks.” I followed the two of them down the aisle, under finally, near the back of the express, they turned into a compartment. Neville was already there, along with Luna, Colin Creevey, a smaller version of Colin, and Ginny.

“Ah, Emma, you got your ears pierced again.” Luna remarked, she really was observant.

“Yeah, I did the muggle way for my Muggle Studies homework. The magical way is much easier.”

“What is the muggle way?” Asked Neville.

“They use this sort of gun to shoot a pointed metal pole through my earlobe, then they retract the pole and stick in the earring. It didn’t feel so good.” I explained. Neville shivered.

“That sounds awful.” Ginny said.

“Heh, yeah, anyway, I’ll see you guys later.” I left the compartment to a chorus of goodbyes and headed back down the aisle, only to be stopped by Cho, her Ravenclaw friend and Cedric.

“Hey Cho, Ced, and...?”

“Marietta.” The girl said.

“Good to meet you, Marietta.” I said, sticking out my hand to her. She grasped it in her own and shook, “I’m Emma, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Emma.” Marietta smiled.

“Pity about Quidditch,” Cedric said.

“Yeah, I’m going to miss kicking both of your asses.” I said, “But Ced, you’re going to go off and play for some professional team, yeah?”

“We’ll see, I’m not that good at it, and my parents what me to do something more productive with my life.” Cedric replied.

“Well, whatever you decide to do, you’re definitely good at Quidditch.” I responded. “And how about this tournament, think you’re going to enter?”

“I definitely want to.” Cedric said.

“Me too,” Cho agreed, “What about you, Em? I think you’d have a good shot at it.”

“Nah, I’ve got no reason to, I don’t need the money and I have other things I’d like to focus on.” I said.

“Like what?” Cedric asked.

“Oh you know, classes.” Planning for a future in which Voldemort could return. Preparing my self. Learning everything I could to protect Harry and myself. Becoming an animagus. Figuring out how to defeat Voldemort once and for all. Because Voldemort had managed to keep a part of himself alive in that diary. I needed to figure out how he had done it, and if he had done it more than once.

***

I fell asleep on the express, per usual, my head rested against Draco’s shoulder. Draco had to wake me when we arrived at the castle. I sat up groggily and dragged my trunk from the train. I heaved it onto the back of one of the thestral drawn carriages. Every time I road on these carriages, I wondered who else could see the thestrals.

The easiest way to describe a thestral was as the living skeleton of a winged horse. They could only be seen by those who had witnessed death. So, I had been able to see them ever since I had watched Lockhart die in the chamber. I hadn’t ever told any of my friends that I had actually seen him die, nor had I told them that I could see thestrals. I did, however, know that Harry could not see them. It made sense of course, neither of us had actually witnessed our parents deaths, at least not according to the memories the dementors had allowed us to see. Harry had passed out before the death of that teacher, Quirrell, and he hadn’t been looking when Lockhart had snuffed it. Lucky him. The sickening thud of Lockhart’s body braking against the cement would never leave my memory. Nor would the sight of the light leaving his eyes as his head snapped back.

I shook the memory from my mind and clambered into the carriage with Millicent, Daphne, Pansy, Tracey and some sixth year Hufflepuff girl. Draco, Blaise and Theo had gone to find another open carriage. That was the trouble with our friend group, we never could all fit into one.

***

The sorting had gone quickly. Alyssa had ended up in Hufflepuff. Mini Colin had turned out to be named Dennis, and had been sorted into Gryffindor, just like his brother.

Dumbledore had shared some rather unfortunate news with us, when he had revealing the TriWizard Tournament to everyone. The news being that only witches and wizards who were of age could enter into the tournament. I had no doubt that Fred and George would still try their hardest to find a way to enter, but I didn’t think their magical abilities were up to par with Dumbledore’s.

***

I decided that I was serious about this whole becoming an animagus thing, so I turned to the only person who I thought could help, Sirius. So, I sat down to write him a letter. I needed to be careful with how I did this though, I couldn’t let him know that I actually intended on turning myself into one.

Dear, Sirius

Hi, I hope you’re well. I was sad to find out that you wouldn’t be returning to Hogwarts with Remus this year. But I am glad that he decided to continue on as our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He really is phenomenal. Anyway, I’m supposed to write to a parent about what the hardest thing they ever achieved magically was, as in a spell, potion, etc. And I know that you aren’t my parent, but you’re the closest thing I’ve got to one. The more in detail you go, the better.

Thanks a billion,

Emma.

I sealed the letter in an envelope and addressed it, carefully tying it to Tambor’s leg. Once Tambor soared off, I headed down from the Owlery and into the Great Hall. The Durmstrang and Beauxbaton students had arrived earlier today. Upon entering the hall, I realized that the Beauxbatons had chosen to sit with us, and the Durmstrangs, with the Gryffindors. I had to laugh, when I say Viktor Krum himself, sitting beside Hermione. And damn her to hell, but she was blushing. I knew that wasn’t the product of him being a Quidditch star, she had never been all that into Quidditch, so this was something else. Could she like him now? Or maybe it was just because she was getting attention from an older guy.

I seated myself across from Draco, between a Beauxbaton girl and Daphne. I turned to the girl to introduce myself, only to have my tongue tied by her beauty. She was the most extraordinary woman I had ever seen.

“I...er, uh, my name’s Emma.” I stuttered.

“I’m Fleur,” She said, laughing, “You know, this has never happened with a girl before, lots of guys, yes, but girls, no.” I blushed furiously and looked to Draco to see if he was being affected in the same way, only to find him staring at me with his eyebrows raised. “Your friend here tells me that I am not his type, so tell me Miss. Emma, am I your type?”

I supposed that in theory, she was my type, tall, blonde, gray eyed. There was just a different blonde whom I was more attracted to.

“If she isn’t your type,” I began, turning to face Draco, “Then who is?” Draco blushed and didn’t answer. Fleur offered me a knowing look before returning to her food.

“So,” Draco said, “Where were you?”

“In the Owlery, sending a letter.”

“Oh? What letter was more important than welcoming the other schools?” Draco asked.

I glanced at Fleur who noticed and conspiratorially said, “It’s okay, I can keep a secret.”

“Fine. I want to figure out how to become an animagus. So I wrote a letter to Sirius Black, because he is an animagus and I figured he’d know how to do it. Do you want to become one with me, if we can?” I explained.

He contemplated for a moment and then said, “Like without alerting the ministry?”

“Well yeah, since it’s illegal to do it before we’re of age anyway.” I said. I knew we had caught Daphne’s attention and captured Fleur’s.

“Sure.” He said, nonchalantly, much to my utter shock.

“Wait really?” I asked.

“Yeah, sure, sounds fun. And it would be useful to be able to turn into an animal.” He replied.

“You guys are crazy,” Daphne said, laughing, “Do you have any idea how hard it is to become an animagus?”

“No, is it really that bad?” I asked.

“It can go really wrong, even for highly qualified witches and wizards, under the observation of the ministry, and there is no way to cure any damage caused.” Fleur said, “But, with that said, I wish you the best of luck.”

“Fleur are you planning on submitting your name into the Goblet of Fire?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Oh yes, I really want to,” She said, “I will put my name in tonight.”

“Best of luck to you too, then.”

***

The next day came with the promise of finding out who would be selected from each school, to be the three champions. I was incredibly excited. I sat in the same seat as I had in the night prior. Draco, Daphne and Fleur did the same, taking up their prior positions.

Finally it came time to find out who the three champions would be. “The champion for Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum.” The hall erupted in applause, I wasn’t surprised, of course it would be him. “The champion for Beauxbaton is Fleur Delacour.” Even louder applause ensued as Fleur stood up from beside me. I offered her a grin that conveyed both ‘congratulations’ and ‘good luck’. “The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory!” The hall burst into the loudest applause yet, Cedric was certainly a worthy candidate. The whooping and clapping continued on until long after he had vanished into the room off of the Great Hall. I had turned back to my food when gasps sounded throughout the hall. My head snapped up to find that the Goblet of Fire had turned red once more. Another slip of paper flew from within it. Dumbledore caught it and read out, “Harry Potter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave me comments and kudos! Next chapter is already in the works and should be out tomorrow.


	9. The Peculiarity of it All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Enjoy the chapter!

My heart stopped. No. Harry would never have been able to surpass Dumbledore’s magic, this was the work of another wizard, someone dark and dangerous. This was the work of someone who intended on killing my brother through this competition. And besides Harry wasn’t even that motivated to compete. Sure, he might have daydreamed about it, but he didn’t need the money and he wasn’t after the glory either, he had enough of both to last a lifetime.

Over the past two months I had researched the tournament, I knew just how dangerous it could be. And if someone was gunning for Harry in this competition, then he was in terrible danger.

I stood abruptly, startling Daphne and Draco, along with the other surrounding Beauxbatons and Slytherins. I noticed dully, that some of the Beauxbatons were crying, disappointed that they hadn’t been chosen. Across the hall, Harry had stood too. Within seconds he had disappeared into the room that the other champions had gone into. I strode to the staff table.

“Professor Snape,” I called,drawing his attention away from Dumbledore. He walked over to me. “Harry didn’t put his name in. You and I both know he doesn’t have the skill to do it, we don’t need the money, and he already gets more attention than he could ever want.” His look was skeptical. “Come on, Professor, please, I know he wouldn’t have been able to do this.”

“What do you want me to do?” He asked.

“Convince the other teachers not to let him compete, he’ll be killed!” I pleaded.

“Okay, I’ll try.” He said, it was the best I could hope for.

Snape followed McGonagall, Dumbledore, the Beauxbaton Headmistress, the Durmstrang headmaster and Lupin into the back room.

Something had been off with Lupin ever since he had returned to Hogwarts this year. I had chalked it up to being because he had broken up with Sirius, but I didn’t understand why he was distancing himself from me too. In Sirius’ last letter, he had asked me how Remus was doing. I had, of course, lied, in an attempt to spare Sirius from worrying about his ex boyfriend. But now, as I watched Lupin enter the room, no sign of worry for Harry once so ever, I wondered whether I had made the right choice. Lupin had never explained why he was staying away from Sirius, Harry and myself. And I feared he was beginning to lose his mind with grief, for he had just told my class that we would be practicing throwing off the imperius curse in the classes to come.

The issue with this, was that the imperius curse was one of the three unforgivable curses. If the ministry knew... both he and Dumbledore would be sent to Azkaban. Possibly for life, seeing as they were using it on children.

I returned to my seat and distractedly shoved my food around my plate with my fork. “What’s got you all worried?” Draco asked, scrutinizing me.

“Don’t things feel a little off to you?” I asked.

“A little off about what?” He asked.

“Harry Potter’s name coming out of the Goblet of Fire, Lupin saying Dumbledore is letting him use an unforgivable curse on us. There’s only supposed to be three champions, Draco.” I said, sounding just as paranoid and confused as I felt.

“I don’t know, Emma.” Draco said. “It just sounds like Dumbledore’s gone senile with his old age and Potter was after a little more glory.”

I rolled my eyes, and reminded myself, it was Draco I was talking to. He still hated Dumbledore and my brother. So, I turned to Daphne.

“Daph, do you really think that Harry Potter is smart enough to figure out how to get his name into the Goblet?” I prodded.

“I don’t know, if he wanted it badly enough, he could figure it out.” Daphne said.

I pushed on, “But he didn’t want it, not enough to break the rules away. And you saw how it played out, he isn’t the Hogwarts champion, so he has to be the champion for a different school. He would have had to make up a fourth school, that didn’t have the age restriction, and submit his name under that school. And there is no way Harry would have figured out how to do that, even if he wanted to!”

“How do you know that? How do you know he didn’t want it, he always goes out of his way to get the spotlight on him!” Draco said, nearly shouting.

Shit. I had said too much. So, I backtracked, “I- I don’t, I just don’t think he’s as into fame as you think.”

“And what has he done, to make you think that?” Draco asked.

“Draco... I, never mind.” I said, returning my gaze to the plate before me. But I could feel eyes on me. I looked up to find Daphne watching me, an unreadable expression played across her face before she looked away. I massaged my temples and busied myself with staring at the door in which Harry had disappeared.

People began to leave the Great Hall, for their designated common rooms, and still the teachers and champions had yet to re-emerge. There must have been a battle raging just beyond that door. As one, the Durmstrang students stood and left the hall, to return to their ship. Not long after, the Beauxbaton students had all left the hall. Even the Hogwarts students were dwindling. The Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors had all gone, surely to celebrate, leaving only a few Slytherins and Ravenclaws behind. Draco, Daphne and I among them.

Then Draco stood, “Em, Daph, you coming?”

“Not just yet,” I said. Draco shrugged and walked away.

“Emma?” Daphne asked tentatively.

“Yeah?” I responded.

“You seemed so sure that Harry didn’t put his name in the Goblet, how do you know he didn’t do it?” She asked.

I decided it was time to give a little. And a realization sprung upon me with such startling clarity that I nearly said it out loud. I caught myself at the last second, resulting in an odd grunting noise escaping me.

I could tell Daphne my secret, I could tell her that Harry was my brother. Or rather I could have Sirius do it! She genuinely liked Harry and I trusted her almost as much as I trusted Draco. Of course, that would have to wait, since Sirius wasn’t in the castle. But Sirius would obviously come to watch the tasks, well more to watch over Harry, than to watch the tasks themselves, but still, he’d be here. Or perhaps I could arrange for him to come to Hogsmeade on one of the Hogsmeade weekends.

“Can you keep a secret?” I asked conspiratorially.

“Yes.” She said, her voice sure and even.

“I didn’t go to Hermione’s house for the week before school started. I went to the Weasleys house. Hermione was there, of course, but, so was Harry.” I explained. Her eyes widened minutely, but otherwise she had no reaction. “And you know, we hung out as a group, a lot, so I got to know him a little better. He thought the tournament would be fun, but he wasn’t really all that invested in it. But the Weasley twins, Fred and George, they really want the money for something, they’ve got this whole plan worked out. But they need money to carry it out, that’s why they were willing to try breaking the age line. But Harry hasn’t got the proper motivation.”

“Okay. So what, someone is trying to... what, distract him with this competition?” Daphne asked.

“My thought was that they could manipulate the challenges to have him killed and make it look like an accident. But, I suppose the tournament could be a distraction tactic.” I contemplated.

“No, you’re probably right, I’ve heard that this competition is really dangerous, a lot of people have died from it in the past, it wouldn’t be hard to kill Harry and make it look like an accident.” Daphne said. “So, what do we do about it?”

I thought for a moment before I said, “I’m trying to become an animagus, depending on what I become, I could be helpful to him within the challenges. Or I could sneak around, try to figure out what the challenges will be. Other than that, I think figuring out who put his name in the Goblet would be just about all we could do.”

“Right, have you got any ideas?” Daphne asked.

“Yeah, I’ve got one, or rather two, only problem is that doesn’t actually help us.”

“Well who do you think it was?”

“Peter Pettigrew, but not alone, he’s got a partner of some sort. The man who cast the dark mark into the sky after the World Cup.”

“How do you know that they’re working together?”

“Because I saw them together at the World Cup- and you can’t tell anyone about this either- but I got Pettigrew, caught him, or at least I think it was him. Anyway, he was in his animagus form and then the man, he had the same voice as whoever cast the dark mark, stunned me, and they both escaped. And listen- this is a secret too- Harry overheard a prophecy being made last year. According to this, this prophecy, Pettigrew is going to revive Voldemort...” I ignored her flinch at hearing the name, “And soon. I think, whoever this person is, is trying to get Harry killed as an offering, a tribute to show his allegiance or something stupid like that.”

“That’s insane, Emma, do you realize how insane that sounds?”

“Yes, I know.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. I was about to continue when Professor Flitwick came bustling over to Daphne and me.

“The two of you need to head down to your common room, the Halloween feast is over.” He squeaked.

“Professor, you don’t understand, I’m waiting for Harry, we’re both waiting for Harry.” I said.

Professor Flitwick examined the two of us for a moment before he said, “There will be plenty oftime for you to speak with your- friend tomorrow.”

I stood, slowly, not wanting to go. Daphne followed suit. Just then, Snape emerged from the back room. He met my gaze, and ever so slightly, shook his head. Shit.

“Now! Girls.” Flitwick said, shooing us towards the doors.

“Fine.” I said, “Come on, Daph.”

Together we stalked out of the hall. As soon as we were out of earshot of the Great Hall, I stopped walking. “Damnit!” I ran my hand threw my hair, and paced back and forth across the width of the corridor. “I wish we had a way of getting into the Gryffindor common room, without a Gryffindor, Hermione might be able to help us. We could wait for Harry... or...”

“Emma, we have homework, and you have Muggle Studies first thing in the morning tomorrow. You can’t miss class, and you can’t stay up all night either.”

“Daphne, anything I might learn tomorrow in Muggle Studies couldn’t possibly be more important than what is happening now with Harry!” I retorted.

“Come on, we are going back to the Slytherin common room.” Daphne grabbed my wrist and pulled me along, all the way back to our common room.

Draco was waiting for me, standing, his hands clasped behind his back, staring out into the depths of the Great Lake. A mermaid drifted by, her golden hair shimmering in the light from the common room lamps. She waved at Draco and he returned the gesture. She didn’t speak and I was almost sad, she had such a beautiful voice. There were rumors that one of the sixth years boys had fallen in love with one of the mermaids and tried to speak with her above the water. But when she had spoken, her voice had been terrible and filled with anguished screeching. He had been deterred from communicating with her ever since.

“Draco,” I said, moving to stand beside him, “Have you ever heard them speak mermish?”

“No, but I’ve heard its nothing pretty.” He said.

“Yes, the humans tend to prefer our submerged voices,” Said a red headed mermaid, swimming into view. “Who was chosen, the others are curious.”

“Cedric Diggory. Fleur Delacour. Viktor Krum. Harry Potter.” I responded.

“Four, not three?” I nodded, “Very peculiar.” She swam off. It was odd to see two of them so close together. It was rare for any of the merpeople to swim this near to the surface, I wondered if it was the tournament that was making them willing to venture up so far. Even as that thought crossed my mind, a merman swam through the water at the edge of our visibility.

“Very peculiar, indeed.” I muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it. Comments and kudos are much appreciated.


	10. Learn Something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I’m in the process of planning out the rest of the book, chapter by chapter. Only eight more to go!   
> Enjoy!

“This very well might be the most important thing you will ever learn in this class,” Professor Burbage said as she strode among the desks. The class had grown a tad smaller since last year. Sophie Roper, Parvati Patil, Padma Patil and Isobel MacDougal had all dropped the class. That left our number at eight and put an end to Hermione, Draco and I being a group of three. Now, we only worked alone, in pairs, in groups of four, or as a full class. “Now, as we delve into Modern Muggle Medicine, some of the things you will see may seen unsettling, disgusting, even impractical. But, some of these things could be the difference between life and death. These things can sometimes do, what magic cannot.” Ernie scoffed. “Yes, Macmillan, I do not exaggerate. Now everyone get into two groups of four, different groups than the last time if you please.”

I moved to sit around a dummy human with Hermione, Draco and Lily Moon, one of the Gryffindor girls in our year.

“Today, I will be teaching you all the art of CPR. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation. A combination of chest compressions and mouth to mouth ventilation in an attempt to continue or restart respiratory functions when the pupil in question cannot do it on their own.”

She demonstrated the correct positioning to enact CPR and then showed us exactly how it was done. I was proud to say that Hermione, Draco, Lily and me had all perfected it long before anyone in the other group did.

Next up was double potions, paired with the fourth year Gryffindors. As Draco, Hermione, Lily and I headed down to the dungeons, I spotted Cedric, talking among a group of his friends. I broke away from the others and hurried to join him.

“Hey! Cedric!” I called to him.

“Oh hey, Emma,” He said, wheeling around to face me, “You guys go on ahead.”

“Congratulations on becoming Hogwarts Champion!” I said, grinning.

“Thanks, it’s a bit odd about this Harry Potter business though.” Cedric remarked.

“Yeah, someone put his name in, trying to kill him or sabotage him or distract him.” I said.

Cedric gave me a funny look, “You believe him then, that he didn’t put his own name in?”

“Yeah, I know he didn’t do it.”

“You seem to be the only one then, everyone else thinks that he put it in.”

I scoffed a little and nodded, “Tell me about it. Well anyway, did they tell you anything about what the first task would be, give you any hints, anything?”

“Nope, all they told us was that we were only allowed our wands and it will take place on November twenty fourth. This challenge is meant to test our courage in the face of the unknown or something like that.”

“Brilliant,” I said sarcastically.

“Yeah, I know, but hey, whatever it is, hopefully it’ll make my parents happy. That’s the only reason I’m in this thing, you know? My mother sent me a letter telling me I had to enter the tournament. A day later it was followed by a letter from my father telling me I had to win, to prove to everyone ‘that I wasn’t a Hufflepuff.’ He’s always thought Hufflepuffs were weak.”

I rolled my eyes and joked, “Sometimes I think that your father is worse than Draco’s.”

“Heh, only mine hides his crazy.” Cedric said, and I wasn’t entirely sure whether or not that was a joke. I laughed along awkwardly anyway.

“What class have you got?” I asked.

“Eh, charms, with the Ravenclaws.” He said.

“Right, well you had been go then, Cho’ll be waiting for you.” I said.

“Of course, yeah, well, goodbye then.” Cedric said, continuing off down the corridor.

“Yeah, bye.” I said, and hurried down to the dungeons. Even with my near run pace, I was still a good six minutes late.

I dashed into the classroom and slid into my seat, between Daphne and Draco.

“Miss Evans,” Snape drawled, “You’re late.”

“Yeah, sorry, I was... I don’t actually have a good excuse, I was talking to my friend.” I said apologetically, setting up my cauldron.

“Right, well you haven’t missed much. Today we will be brewing the Weedosoros potion. Directions are on the board, as usual. Everyone get going now. You have an hour and a half to get it finished and to my desk.” Snape said, returning to the front of the room and seating himself behind his desk.

“Where were you?” Asked Daphne.

“I was talking to Cedric,” I said, surprised that Snape hadn’t even seemed annoyed by my lateness. Perhaps he felt bad for not being able to convince the others to take Harry out of the tournament. “About the TriWizard Tournament, specifically the first task. And guess what, they aren’t going to tell the competitors anything. They’re walking in blind.”

“Well that’s dumb, how are they supposed to showcase what they can do?” Daphne asked, “How will they prepare?”

“I think maybe it’s meant to demonstrate having a cool head in the face of danger, acting fast and remaining calm, you know?” I said.

“I guess.” Daphne said, thoughtful. “I guess Harry’ll have to practice a lot of different spells.”

“What do you think the others will do?” Draco asked, “Krum will definitely try to use his broom.”

“He can’t, you’re only allowed your wand.” I said, my mind whirling.

Daphne contemplated my words for a moment before saying, “If someone in the audience had his broom, he could summon it.”

“Yes, but that would be in violation of the rules, no outside help. I suppose he could place his broom somewhere nearby before hand, but that might be considered cheating as well. But if he summoned it from his quarters on the ship, that couldn’t be considered cheating at all.” I rambled.

“But who’s to say that having a broom would come in handy anyway?” Draco asked. That was a good point, a broom might not be useful in the task... if only we knew what the task was. Maybe Snape would tell me.

I was the first one to finish my Weedosoros potion, but rather than hurrying up to Snape’s desk, like I usually would, I waited until the rest of the class had all brought their potions up. Finally, everyone else had handed in their potions and had begun to pack up their things. So, I filled a small vial with my potion and headed to Snape’s desk. Everyone was distracted, talking to their friends and slamming books shut, no one would overhear the conversation that was about to ensue.

“Professor Snape?” I said, as I passed him my vial.

“Yes, Miss Evans?” He replied, not even looking up.

“I-” I realized I had no idea how to word my request. I really hadn’t thought this through. “I was wondering if, well, if you knew anything about the first task in the tournament?”

His head snapped up upon hearing my words. He scrutinized me for a long moment before he said, “I am sorry, Miss Evans, but I thought I just heard you ask for confidential information, that if shared with a champion, would be considered to be cheating and would result in the champion being disqualified.”

I pursed my lips and fixed my gaze to the floor. I was again reminded of the fact that I needed to buy new shoes. “Sorry, Professor.” I whispered and turned to go.

Suddenly, I heard something, so soft that I might have imagined it. “I’m sorry, Emma, I have taken no part in organizing the task, I don’t know anything about it.” I gave a minute nod of acknowledgement and returned to my table. I packed my things in a rush and was finished, not a moment too soon, for the instant I zipped my bag, class was dismissed.

My next class of the day was Defense Against the Dark Arts, with the Ravenclaws. Today we would be fighting off the Imperius curse, or rather, attempting to. Just as I had expected none of us could fend it off. I argued with Lupin’s voice inside my head, for a minute, but in the end, I still succumbed to a bout of singing worthy of The Sound of Music.

Draco demonstrated the same hesitation, just not as long as me, before he started beat boxing. Daphne, Theo, Blaise, Tracey and Pansy had a moments hesitation, but Millicent showed none at all. Vincent and Gregory were idiots as always.

At the end of class, Lupin said we would be continuing with the imperius curse for the next few classes. He also said that some of us showed promise of being able to fight it in the future. And I might have been imagining it, but it seemed as though he had been looking right at Draco and I when he had said it.

Daphne, Draco and I were walking down the corridor after class, when I remembered that I had sent Sirius a letter. Tambor was an incredibly fast flier, she should be back by now with a response.

“I should check the Owlery to see if my Animagus letter is here yet.” I said.

“Emma, we have lunch, if the letter is here, it will be delivered in the Great Hall.” Daphne said, rather logical.

“Oh right, well I asked Snape if he knew anything about the first task of the tournament. And he said he didn’t. So that was a complete dead end. I’m sure some of the teachers have to know, but I don’t think any of them would tell me.” I said.

“What about Hagrid?” Draco asked, “You’re like friends with him right?”

“Yeah, but do you really think he would know anything?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” Draco said, “But the only way to find out would be to ask him.”

“You could ask him after class tomorrow.” Daphne suggested.

“Yeah, okay, I will. But you two will have to remind me.”

Pansy, Blaise, Tracey and Theo had beat us to the Great Hall, but Millicent was no where to be found. They were sitting with Fleur, our usual seats vacant. I took up my spot between Fleur and Daphne and began piling sandwich bites onto my plate, mostly cheese toasties, but a couple ham and turkey too. Draco passed a dish over to me, and I was ecstatic to find it was covered with fresh strawberries. I grinned at him and grabbed the dish.

Then Tambor landed on the table, just beside my plate. She had a letter tied to her leg. I quickly freed it and pulled it open. My heart leapt as I recognized it to be Sirius’ handwriting.

**Dear Emma,**

**I am sorry I could not go back to Hogwarts. I wanted to watch over you and Harry, but it wouldn’t have worked, with Remus deciding he wants nothing to do with me. I’m glad he’s well and made it to teaching for a second year. Many thought the position of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was cursed by Voldemort when he asked for the job and was refused. But, he has managed to disprove this theory. What has he been teaching you this year? How’s Harry? I heard that his name came from the Goblet of Fire. He didn’t put his name in, did he? My theory was that someone is out for him, likely some death eater who seeks vengeance for his fallen master. Nice try with the assignment, but I can see right through you. You must remember that I grew up with James, I know all of the different schemes. I assume you’re after the secret to becoming an animagus. I warn you to be careful, it is a very dangerous thing to do and it takes time. Think it through before you try it. Be careful. Your parents would kill me if they knew I was not alone letting you, but also aiding you in your attempt. But against my better judgement, I have included a list of the instructions. Remember, Emma, it isn’t easy.**

**Use your head,**

**Sirius.**

Sure enough, there was another slip of parchment attached to the first. “Draco, I’ve got it, Sirius Black wrote back, telling me how to become an animagus.” I said, excited.

“So what? You two still plan on turning yourselves into animagus?” Fleur asked, “You are going to end up dead, do not say I did not warn you.”

“Thanks, I won’t forget it.” I joked.

“You had better not, I refuse to be an accessory to your suicide.” Fleur said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! Stay tuned for more chapters to come.


	11. The Secret’s Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is!

“So, what does it say you have to do?” Daphne asked. I moved the second piece of parchment to the front and quickly skimmed through it.

**How to become an animagus:**

  1. **Keep mandrake leaf in mouth for one month (from full moon to full moon. Be sure it is in your mouth from the exact peak of the moon’s cycle until its next peak)**
  2. **Put salivated leaf in crystal vial on the full moon, in direct moonlight, with one of your hairs**
  3. **Add a silver teaspoon of dew, that has not been touched by human feet or sunlight in seven days, into potion (almost anywhere in the forbidden forest should do)**
  4. **Add a cocoon from a death’s head hawkmoth (They usually make their cocoons underground around the back of Greenhouse three)**
  5. **Place vial in a dark place and wait for an electrical storm (we put ours in balled up socks)**
  6. **Until electrical storm occurs, cast spell on yourself every dusk and dawn (put wand tip against your heart and recite “amato animato animagus”)**


  1. **Once lightning strikes, the vial will turn blood red, drink it immediately and recite the incantation one last time**



“There’s quite a bit, here.” I passed the parchment to her and she read it quickly, handing it off to Draco, who read it too.

He huffed, “This is a lot Em, do you really think that we are going to be able to do all of this?” He sounded uncertain, nervous even, that gave me pause.

“Are you changing your mind then?” I asked.

He was quick to retort, “No! Of course not, I just, are you sure that we are ready to do this?”

“No, but there is only one way to find out. We have herbology next, we can sneak behind Greenhouse three before class and dig up a couple of those Death’s head hawkmoth cocoons. We can get the mandrake leaves then too, we ought to get extras, in case we mess up and have to start over. And then we can sneak into the forbidden forest tonight, after dinner, to get the dew. I wonder if a sticking charm would do the job on the leaf. And a summoning spell should make quick work of the cocoons. When’s the next full moon? Oh, I’ll just as Lupin, he ought to know.” I stood and hurried over to the staff table. “Professor Lupin,” I whispered, “When is the next full moon?”

He gave me a quizzical look and said, “I don’t know, ask Professor Sinistra, she’s the astronomy teacher after all. Doesn’t she study the stars and sky and moon?”

I glared at him, “Just because you’re choosing to keep your distance, it doesn’t mean you can just shirk off the obligations you accepted thirteen years ago! You don’t need to be so cold, nor do you need to pretend I don’t know your secret!” I stalked over to Professor Snape and asked him when the next full moon would be.

“November eighteenth.” Snape replied instantly, the lunar cycle was very important to potion brewing. “Why?” He asked, his voice laced with suspicion.

“Oh, no reason, I was just curious, and how about the one after that?” I asked, innocently.

“December seventeenth.” He said.

“And the one after that? Just to be on the safe side.” I added, as an afterthought.

“January sixteenth.” He said, again, without hesitation.

“Thanks.” I said and strode back to the Slytherin table. I quickly scribbled down the dates in the bottom corner of the parchment with instructions.

Daphne peered over my shoulder and then leaned forward to point at the first date, “That’s the day before our Hogsmeade weekend.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” I said, remembering that I had to ask Sirius to go to Hogsmeade so he could tell Daphne my secret. I pulled a blank slip of parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink from my bag and began to draft a letter for him.

**Dear Sirius,**

**Harry and I miss having you here. Any chance we can stay with you this summer? You’ve still got a house right? I heard rumors about the position being cursed too. But maybe it really is cursed, see I had the oddest of encounters with Lupin a few minutes ago. He acted as though he had no idea that I was his Goddaughter and he didn’t know when the next full moon is. Could he be going mad? He has been doing some awfully questionable things as of late as well. He has been teaching us how to fend off the imperius curse, by using it on each of us. He also demonstrated all three of the unforgivable curses earlier in the year. Couldn’t he be sentenced to life in Azkaban for that? Crazier yet, he claims that Dumbledore gave him the go ahead, so maybe Dumbledore’s gone off his rocker. I heard rumors that Harry was able to fend off the curse entirely, but I have yet to talk to him about it.**

**Yes, Harry’s name did come from the Goblet of Fire, and no he didn’t put it in. My theory is much the same as yours. I spoke with Cedric Diggory about the first task and he said the champions were not going to be told what the task was.**

**I have to tell you something, its rather embarrassing though. At the Quidditch World Cup I had a run in with the death eater who cast the dark mark into the sky. You see, Peter Pettigrew was there, in his rat form (of course). I stepped on his tail, effectively trapping him. But then the death eater (he had the very same voice) stunned me and Pettigrew got away. I think they’re working together, but I don’t think they were with the group who was drunk and wreaking havoc. Those death eaters were pretty spooked when the dark mark appeared in the sky. Anyway, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, like I said, I was embarrassed.**

**That’s not all, I think its time to let one of my friends in on my little secret. But to do that, I need you. We have a Hogsmeade weekend coming up, on November 19th, do you think you could make the trip? I do hope so, Daphne is a fantastic friend, and unlike my other best friend, she doesn’t despise Harry, which will make things easier. My other friend, Draco, he holds a grudge against Harry for something that happened three years ago, and it was small, at that. I don’t quite trust my other friends enough to tell them yet, but soon, if you could stay in town? I figure you’re probably going to stay in for the tasks right? Dumbledore might even let you stay in the castle.And I know what you’re thinking, but the castle is a pretty big place. You might not even run into him. And you would get to see your Godson and your Godson’s fabulous sister. Plus, I know, wherever you are, you’re lonely. Just think about, for me, and for Harry, of course.**

**Yes, I know how hard it is to become an animagus. But, I really want to try and I do think it will be useful.**

**I hope to see you soon,**

**Emma.**

I rolled up the slice of parchment rushed off to the Owlery, with a quick called goodbye to my friends. I had to use another owl, so Tambor could rest. She had the bad habit of flying until she dropped. I selected a large black one and tied the letter to his leg. “Take this to Sirius Black please.” I said and the owl was off.

I ended up taking too long in the Owlery, so I didn’t have time to go searching for death’s head hawkmoth cocoons, but I did manage to nick a handful of mandrake leaves. They were larger than I remembered them being, thick and rough as sandpaper. I was meant to keep this rubbish in my mouth for a month? It would certainly be an experience, that was for sure.

But with the end of herbology, came a thirty centimeter essay on the forty five plants that could cure a head cold. With that, on top of all of the other homework I had to do, there was no way I would be able to sneak back out tonight. It wasn’t an issue, I had over a month to acquire all of the ingredients.

***

The full moon arrived quicker than seemed possible. It would peak tonight at nine thirty six, so at nine thirty, Draco and I retreated to a corner of the common room. Daphne followed us, a look of mild exasperation on her face.

“Okay, so a sticking charm,” Daphne said, “But what are you going to stick it to? The roof of your mouth, a cheek?”

“I’m sticking mine to my cheek,” I said, “It would annoy me too much if it was stuck on the roof of my mouth.”

“Really?” Draco asked, “It would annoy me on my cheek, I want mine on the roof of my mouth.”

“Alright, well here goes.” I said, checking my battered old watch. It was time. Draco and I carefully each put a leaf into our mouths. I situated it flat upon my cheek and then pointed my wand into my mouth. I’d never done a spell silently before. With everything in me, I thought tenaces over and over again. Finally, I felt the leaf congeal itself against my cheek. It felt a little odd, but I was sure I would get over it within the first couple minutes.

I quickly preformed the spell for Draco and noticed a problem immediately. The bright green of the leaf was in stark contrast with Draco’s mouth, making it glaringly noticeable. That wouldn’t do, and I was sure the same issue was occurring inside my own mouth. “We’re going to need to disguise these, they’re to visible. Open your mouth.” Draco did it. “Calamitatis.”

I opened my mouth and Draco fixed mine. I hurried over to look in the mirror and found that my mouth didn’t look any different, no one would be able to tell that the leaf was even there.

“There!” I said triumphantly to Daphne, “See? We did it.”

“Yeah, now all you have to do is wait a month, go into the forbidden forest, dig up some cocoons, wait for an electrical storm, cast a spell a bunch of times, and drink some disgusting potion.” Daphne said sarcastically. “What could go wrong?”

***

The next morning, the eight of us Slytherins, headed off to Hogsmeade. Pansy and Blaise broke off from the rest of us almost immediately. Then Theo headed off to meet up with some Hufflepuff sixth year. He was being rather secretive about the whole thing which led me to believe that this was a new boyfriend or just a friend with benefits. Something was definitely going on there. I needed to figure out some way to shake Draco, Millicent and Tracey, so I could go to The Three Broomsticks, where Sirius was waiting for me.

My opportunity came when Millicent and Draco said they wanted to go in Honeydukes. Daphne didn’t want to go, but unfortunately, Tracey didn’t want to go either.

Draco and Millicent went off to Honeydukes and I lead the way to The Three Broomsticks. We hurried inside and picked an empty table. As we ordered our butter beers, I scanned the room, searching for Sirius. I found him, sitting at a table in the back. I offered him a discrete wave, which he returned with a grin.

We were there for about fifteen minutes before Tracey announced that she had to go to the bathroom. As soon as she had disappeared inside, I stood and gestured for Daphne to come with me. Confused, she followed me to Sirius’ table. Sirius got up and offered me a hug. “Good to see you, Emma! This is Daphne, I presume.”

“Yup, the one and only. Daph, this is Sirius, Sirius Black.” I introduced.

“Hi uh, what is going on?” The last part was a whispered hiss to me.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to blindside you, but we haven’t got a lot of time. Sirius, go on, then I’ll be able to explain everything.” I said, all of this felt so rushed.

“Emma is Harry Potter’s sister. They share the parents Lily Evans and James Potter. I am Harry’s Godfather and both of their legal guardian and...” He turned to me, “Emma will be staying at my house this summer.”

Daphne’s jaw dropped and she looked back and forth between Sirius and I. Then she said, “That makes... so much sense!”

“What?” I asked, totally perplexed.

“I mean you literally have the same eyes and you parents were both murdered by You-Know-Who. You always, and I mean always, defend him, and you were very adamant that you didn’t like him.” Daphne said. “So why did you need to be the one to tell me?” She asked Sirius pleasantly.

“It’s a secret and I’m the secret keeper.” Sirius said. “Emma, if you see your brother, tell him that I’m here, okay?”

“Yeah, of course.” I said.

“Emma, you have a brother?” Asked Tracey. She had just come from the bathroom.

“Oh to hell with it, Sirius you can tell her too.” I said, exasperated.

“Emma’s brother is Harry Potter. Their parents were Lily Evans and James Potter.” Sirius said quickly, smiling.

Tracey thought for a moment and then shrugged, “Yeah, that seems about right.” I snorted. “It seems so obvious now, how did I not figure that out on my own?”

“It seems Emma here, isn’t so good at hiding things.” Sirius laughed, “The fidelius charm seems to be forming a sort of block in your minds, to keep you from figuring it out. See, this isn’t a secret that can be discovered, it has to be shared.”

“Ah.” Tracey said, as though that explained everything. “So, how many people know?”

Sirius turned to me, that seemed to be something he wanted to know as well.

“Uh, my aunt and uncle, my cousin, Harry, me, Sirius, Lupin, Snape, Hermione, all nine Weasleys, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, Hagrid, Sprout, and now you too. I should really keep a list. Oh and Peter Pettigrew, at least I think he knows.” I listed, ticking off names on my fingers.

“Are you planning on telling the others or...?” Asked Daphne.

“I mean yeah, eventually, just not yet.” I said.

“If you’re worried about reactions, you could tell Astoria’s friend group. Ginny already knows, Neville likes Harry, Luna does too, and I’m pretty super Colin is his number one fan. Alyssa and Dennis are the new additions to the group, but you don’t know them really.” Daphne suggested.

“That’s actually a good idea.” I said, “I won’t be telling Colin, I don’t really know him, though he is muggle born, so he wouldn’t support Voldemort, hm, I could tell him. No, best to keep the number small for now. But I could definitely tell Neville, Luna, Astoria. That is, Sirius, do you mind?” I asked.

“No, this is the most fun I’ve had in ages,” Sirius said, grinning at me. I suspected he really just wanted to see Remus, but I didn’t contradict him.

With the help of Daphne and Tracey, I was able to find Neville, Luna, Ginny, Astoria, Colin, Alyssa and Dennis rather quickly. Unfortunately, they happened to be near Pansy and Blaise. Tracey, Daphne, Sirius and I were forced to lurk a few paces behind them until Pansy and Blaise broke away from the path. Much to my great surprise, they were holding hands. I knew they liked each other, but I didn’t know they’d admitted it to themselves, let alone one another.

I rushed forward and threw an arm around Ginny’s shoulder. “Hey.” She said. The others turned to look at me, all offering their greetings.

“Can I talk to you lot for a minute?” I asked.

“Of course.” Neville said and we all moved to stand in the grass.

“Everyone, this is Sirius.” I said, “Sirius?”

“Emma is Harry Potter’s biological full sister, and I am the secret keeper to that bit of information.” He explained softly.

“What?” Astoria hissed, her eyes wide.

“Sorry to spring that all on you, but I just hate secrets, and I thought you guys should know.” I said, “But you can’t tell anyone. You physically won’t be able to since it’s a secret with a keeper. But you’ll be able to talk about it with other people who already know.”

“Does Harry know?” Asked little Dennis.

I couldn’t help but smile at him, “Yeah, Harry knows, we grew up together.”

“Can I have your autograph?” Asked Colin, in utter awe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please remember to leave comments and kudos!


	12. The First Task

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s your chapter! Sorry it’s so late! I just binge watched all of Outer Banks today... oops. Anyway, enjoy.

“Hey Harry, can I borrow the cloak?” I asked.

“Yeah, of course.” He said, “It’s technically yours too. It’s in my dorm room.”

“If you just give me the password then I can run up and grab it.” I offered.

“Oh sure, it’s Knight Bus.” He said. The two of us walked straight past Ron in the hall. It was rather odd, neither of them so much as glanced at one another.

“What’s up with him?” I asked.

Harry’s expression morphed into a scowl, “Ron thinks I put my name into the Goblet and that I’ve been lying to him, he’s mad that I didn’t get his name into the mix too.”

“Ugh, idiot.” I groaned. “Do you want me to talk to him?”

Harry stopped and turned to look at me. “Emma. You don’t talk to him, you yell at him and insult.”

“I do not.” Yes, I did.

“Emma, you know you do, with every single sentence.” Harry said, insistent.

“Sorry, I can’t help it. We just have to face the fact that we each hate the other’s best friend.” I said.

“I don’t hate Daphne.” Harry retorted.

“Daphne isn’t my best friend, and you know it.” I said.

“I don’t understand how you could possibly be friends with him.”

“I’m not going to try and make you understand, but the task is today, do you think you’re ready?” I asked.

“Yeah, Hermione helped me work out a plan.” Harry said.

“And, what is it?” I asked, confused, how could he possibly have a plan, if he didn’t know the task unless... “You figured out what the task is, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, er, Hagrid showed me, in the forbidden forest, it’s dragons, we have to face dragons. They’ve got four of them, one for each of us.” He said.

“And what have you got to do? Kill them?” I asked, aghast.

“No, I don’t think so. I’m a little unclear on that, but I think I’ve got to take something.” He said uncertainly.

“Okay... well what’s your plan then?” I asked.

“I learned how to preform the summoning charm and I’m going to summon my Firebolt and fly. Hopefully I can just evade the dragon and steal whatever I’m meant to steal. Sirius wanted me to use the conjunctivitis curse, occaeco, but I didn’t have time to learn it.” Harry said.

“Damn, it’s right cruel of them, not to tell the champions what they’re up against.” I seethed.

“Em, I think they all know.” Harry said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well... Madam Maxime and Karkaroff were in the woods too, so both of their champions know... and I told Cedric.” He said.

“You. Told. Cedric.” I said flatly, “Of course you did.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I can’t with you.”

“What?” He asked defensively.

“Do you not understand that this is a bloody competition?! You have never spoken to Cedric before this, it’s not as though he’d be expecting you to loop him in! Are you trying to win or not?” I said.

“Save the lecture, Em. What’s done is done.” He said.

I sighed, “Fine. But you had better win.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Harry said, waving away my words.

“Okay, hey but back to the whole, you not hating Daphne thing, how do you feel about her?” I asked.

His face reddened a little, “I- er, what? Why?”

“Because she likes you,” I said, “I thought that was pretty clear when she kissed you.”

“I thought that was a joke.” He mumbled.

“No, she used to be jealous of me because she thought that I liked you.” I laughed.

He let out a snort and said, “I mean she’s pretty, but I don’t really know her.”

“You don’t know Cho, either,” I pointed out bitterly. I had promised Ginny that I wouldn’t reveal her crush to Harry, but Daph had no qualms about him knowing that she fancied him.

“Oh bugger off,” He joked, “Haven’t you got an invisibility cloak to go and fetch?”

“Oh yeah! The cloak!” I said and dashed off down the corridor. I hurried up to the Gryffindor tower’s portrait and said, “Knight Bus” to the fat lady. She flew open and I went inside. I remembered that the dorm rooms were opposite here to the Slytherin ones and went up the left staircase. I rushed up the four floors to Harry’s shared dorm. It took me a moment to remember which area was Harry’s. I began to dig through Harry’s things in search of the cloak. Just then, someone else entered the room.

“Hey!” It was Seamus Finnegan. Fuck. “What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?” There was the cloak! “Answer me, you bloody Slytherin!” Damn, did this child possess no manners?

I decided not to indulge him. I snagged the cloak and wrapped it around to cover myself, effectively making me vanish from sight.

“What the bloody hell?” He spat into the air, pointing his wand aimlessly around the room. I took the opportunity to slip past him and bolt down the stairs.

***

Dragons. Why’d it have to be dragons. Suddenly Harry seemed so small and frail. A dragon could tear him to shreds. It was a challenge to walk with the others into the stands, for the first task. My stomach was a mess of terror. I wanted nothing more than to curl up and cry.

I was so scared. I felt like I was out of my body, looking down on the whole situation before me.I looked like a statue, a pale, bloodless statue, ready to crumble at any moment.

Cedric was announced first and his dragon was brought in, larger and more dangerous than I could have imagined. My stomach did a little flip, causing a bout of nausea to roil through me. I shook it off with a great difficulty.

Cedric, however seemed unfazed by the creature and he stood, rather stoically, staring at it.

Mr. Bagman’s voice came booming throughout the stands. “Welcome everyone! Who’s excited?!” Cheers chorused all around me. I didn’t have the heart to join them. “Now, you have waited long enough! It’s time to find out the first task! Now, I’m sure you’ve already guessed that a dragon is involved. The first task is for each champion to get past a dragon and steal the golden egg, which is hidden among the real ones. Points will be deducted, should any harm come to the real eggs. Now, folks, welcome the first champion, Cedric Diggory, let’s see what he’s got!”

First, Cedric tried sending a stunning spell at the dragon’s eye, but missed. “Isn’t this animal cruelty?” I asked, no one in particular, “She hasn’t done anything wrong and she’s being forced to defend her babies.” Hermione nodded her agreement. On the other side of the stands, I noticed Sirius, his presence calmed me, but only a little.

Then Cedric sent an unintelligible spell at a rock and it was transfigured into a golden retriever. The dragon turned on the barking dog, screeching angrily at the poor animal. That’s when Cedric made him move, booking it towards the eggs. But at the last moment, the dragon turned her focus back onto him, abandoning the retriever. She slashed him with her tail, but somehow, he managed to evade the worst of it and he even got the egg.

Next to go was Fleur. She put the dragon into some sort of trance and rushed to claim her egg. As she made her way towards the exit, the dragon sighed contentedly and flame erupted from her mouth, catching Fleur’s robes on fire. She was quick to extinguish them with a simple wave of her wand, but still, I was sure points would be docked for the misstep.

Third was Krum. He used the conjunctivitis spell that Sirius had suggested to Harry and it ended poorly. The dragon was in fact blinded, but she went in a raging stumble, destroying several of the real eggs. Those poor babies, so close to birth, never to make it there. Still, he was able to get his golden egg in the end.

And it was Harry’s turn. My heart raced, likely going faster than his own. He stepped into the arena and the crowd went silent. That was the only reason I was able to hear the spell he shouted, “Accio Firebolt.” He stood there so long that I began to count the seconds. Exactly sixteen seconds later, his Firebolt came flying into view. People began to point and murmur to one another.

An instant later, the Firebolt was in his hand and he was mounting it. He was quick to lure his dragon away from the eggs before soaring down and snagging the golden one. He was by far the fastest and he came away with no injuries, which would certainly raise his score. I clapped and cheered among the rest, relief flowing through me.

Then words began to register in my ears, Bagman shouted, “And Harry Potter comes out with first place in the First Task!” To my surprise, I managed to clap even harder, cheer even harder, a grin spreading across my face from ear to ear.

“Come on,” Hermione whispered to me, “We have to go down to congratulate him.” I rose with her and ducked my way from the stands. It wasn’t until we’d reached the ground that I realized Daphne was with us. Hermione was eying her worriedly.

“Hey, it’s fine, she knows.” I said.

Hermione gaped at me, slack jawed for a moment before she said, “Oh, alright, come on then.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going in, I’m just lookout, to make sure Draco doesn’t come down looking for Emma.” Daphne said.

Hermione pulled me into the tent and hissed, “When’d you tell her?”

“Last week,” I whispered, “But Harry doesn’t know that anyone else knows yet. I also told Tracey, Neville, Luna, Astoria, Alyssa, Colin, Dennis... I feel like I’m forgetting someone. I don’t know.” I shrugged.

“Emma, don’t you think that that’s a little... I don’t know, reckless?” Hermione asked me, looking worried.

I sighed, “I hate secrets Mione. That’s never going to change. I despise keeping them, so I am going to tell everyone that I think I can trust.”

She nodded and said, “Okay, I hope your judgement never fails you, lets go get Harry.”

We went into the next section of the tent and found him. I got to him first, wrapping my arms around him and burying my face into his chest. “You did so well!” I said.

“Thanks, Em.” He said, as he hugged me back. “Did you manage to get the cloak? I heard that you ran into Seamus.”

“Yeah, he isn’t very nice, luckily I had already found it, so I just put it on and he couldn't find me after that.” I said, pulling away from him. “Did they tell you what the second task was, or is it another mystery?” I asked.

He hefted the egg up to eye level and said, “Apparently this has the clue inside it.”

“Well open it then.” Hermione urged.

Harry did and the most horrendous sound bounced around the room. “Close it,” I yelled over the terrible noise.

Moments later, the tent was silent once more.

“What in the bloody hell was that?” Harry groaned.

But my mind was racing, I felt like I should have known what that was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! I’m writing the next chapter as we speak!


	13. Transformation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! But as you can see, this is a monster chapter. When I did my blocking for the chapter by chapter plot, for some reason I loaded up this chapter. The others will be much shorter, don’t worry. Enjoy :)

“What in the bloody hell was that?” Someone asked... Ron. “That was dreadful.” All of us turned around, to find him standing there, mere feet from us, inside the tent. The traitor. No, no, not a traitor. He was like a brother to me. Sure, an incredibly annoying and rude brother, but a brother all the same. And he was looking straight at Harry. “I’m sorry, I get it now. I reckon someone is out to kill you.”

“Really? Come to your sense, have you?” Harry scoffed.

“I’m sorry mate, really, I was being stupid and jealous.” He said.

“Per usual,” I drawled, taking a step closer, getting into his face. “Honestly, Ronald, you’re like a whole different person.” I leaned forward and hugged him. He hesitated for a moment before returning the gesture tentatively. “I say we forgive him, but what do I know.”

“Fine by me.” Harry said, shrugging.

“I mean, if Emma’s forgiving you, then I guess I can.” Hermione said.

Suddenly, Daphne burst in, “Draco is looking for you, and I told him you were in the common room, better hurry Em!” 

“Right, er, can I?” I asked, gesturing to the Firebolt.

“Of course,” He said, and I took it, mounting it and soaring towards the castle.

I hardly managed to beat Draco back to the common room and ended up having to shrink the Firebolt and stash it in my pocket. 

“Hey,” He said, sauntering in. “Where’d you run off to?”

“No where, I just came back here.” I lied and my heart twinged. “Listen, I think we should go collect the potion ingredients tonight.”

“Okay, we just need the dew from the forbidden forest and the Death’s head hawkmoth cocoons right?” He asked.

“Yes, we need to keep the dew in our silver teaspoons, until the next full moon. We’ll have to share with Daphne or Blaise in potions class until we can use our own again.”

***

That night, we dawned the invisibility cloak and crept out onto the grounds. It was easy enough to find what we were looking for and took us less than three hours. 

Once we were back inside the castle, I remembered that we needed vials to put the potions inside. “Hey Draco,” I whispered, “We should sneak down to Snape’s office and grab some vials.”

“Right, check your map.” He replied. So, I pulled the map from my robes and unfolded it beneath the cloak. I had never wiped it after the last time I’d used it, so it was already displaying the castle to me. I scanned down to the dungeons and Snape’s office. And that’s when my plans were thwarted. Someone was already inside of Snape’s office. I squinted at the name in the dim light from the torches lining the corridor and had to do a double take. For, the name wasn’t ‘Severus Snape’ but rather, ‘Barty Crouch.’ 

“What do you think Barty Crouch is doing in Snape’s office?” I asked, as we made our way back to our common room. “And without Snape there?”

“Maybe he needs something from the stock room, you know, for the next task.” Draco said, shrugging.

“But Snape is very protective of his ingredients, I would think he would be there, to make sure Crouch didn’t nick anything he wasn’t supposed to have.” 

“Well see if Snape’s on patrol, we can tell him and show him the map.” Draco said. 

I shook my head, “No, I think that’s pressing our luck a bit too far, we’re out of bed, after hours, we’d be in so much trouble.”

“Right.” Draco said, as though he had only then remembered that they were breaking about a dozen school rules.

***

The next full moon was upon us before we knew it. The whole school was buzzing about the upcoming Yule Ball. Blaise and Pansy were going together, shocker there. Theo was going with his new boyfriend, a sixth year Hufflepuff called Jason, who happened to be friends with Cedric. And I was going with Draco, he had asked me during this morning’s breakfast. Tracey, Millicent and Daphne still didn’t have dates. Though, Michael Corner had already asked all three of them. He was so creepy. He had called each of them ‘stinking Slytherins’ and said that they didn’t deserve him, when they turned him down. Then he tried to ask me, he never got to it though. I guess maybe the hex I sent his way put him off a bit.

I was in the library with Ron and Harry, trying to figure out the clue from the egg. Hermione was running late, which was rather odd and unlike her.

“Harry, have you asked anyone to the ball yet?” I asked, setting aside the ancient languages book I had been reading, before my thoughts had drifted. 

“No,” He said glumly.

“Oh that’s not true, tell her mate.” Ron laughed.

He groaned, “Okay, I asked Cho.”

I smacked my forehead with the palm of my hand. “Harry, she has been with Cedric like forever, and they’re still together, of course she’s going to go with him.”

“She’s dating Cedric?” Asked Ron and Harry in unison.

I sighed in exasperation, “Honestly, you two are hopeless!”f

“So neither of you have dates?” I asked.

“Nope.” They said together.

“Right, then Ron, you ask Hermione when she gets here and Harry, go find Ginny and ask her.” I said.

“Now?” Asked Harry.

“Yes, now, before someone else asks her, I don’t know if you lot have noticed, but she is getting really pretty.” I said. “What’re you waiting for, you need a partner right? Go!”

Harry jumped up and left the library with startling speed. Moments later, Hermione strode into the library with an arm full of parchment, ink and quills.

“Hey Em, Ron.” She glanced around, “Where’s Harry?”

“He went off to go ask Ginny to the Yule Ball,” I said conspiratorially. 

“Ugh finally, took him long enough.” Hermione said in mock relief.

“Speaking of the Yule Ball,” Ron started, “I was wondering, Hermione, if you’d like to go with me? You know, as friends.” I silently cursed Ron for including that last bit.

“Sure,” Hermione said, and it was clear he was working hard to hide his excitement.

“Ha!” Ron said, “Do you reckon that I beat Harry?” I rolled my eyes.

Viktor Krum emerged from between the shelves and approached our table. “Excuse me?” He asked and we all turned to look at him. “Could I speak to Hermione alone?”

“Yeah,” Hermione said, standing up. 

While she was gone, Harry returned. “Did you find Ginny?” I asked.

“Yes.” He said. I waited, but he said nothing else.

“And?” I prompted. 

“She said yes.” He said.

“Hermione did too!” Ron said, “Look at us, mate. Both of us have got dates to the ball. Ugh, but my robes are dreadful. Emma, maybe you can go with Neville.”

I stared at him, “Ronald.” I said slowly. “I. Have. Had. A. Date. This. Entire. Time.”

“What? Who?”

I leaned forward and hit my head against the book, repeatedly. “Who” Smack. “Do” Smack. “You” Smack. “Think?”

Ron shrugged.

“Dios mío,” I groaned.

“What did you just do?” Ron asked, panicked, “What spell was that?”

“It’s called Spanish, Ronald.” I said.

“Since when do you know Spanish?” Asked Harry. I shrugged. 

“Spanish is the language of demons,” Ron muttered under his breath.

“¿Ce qui, préférez-vous le Français?” I asked, raising a brow at him.

Hermione came back around the corner and said, “¿Vous parlez Français?”

I responded with, “Oui, ¿et toi?”

“Un peu.” She said, returning to her seat. 

“What did Krum want?” Harry asked.

“He asked me to the ball.” Hermione said, “He told me that he had been coming to the library every day to work up the courage. Oh, don’t worry, Ron, I said no.” 

“Oh shit, we’ve got to go,” I said, checking my watch. “Curfew. Pince’ll kick us out any moment.” We all stood and quickly began to pack our things. “Hey, Harry, can I borrow this?” I asked, gesturing to the egg.

“Sure, I doubt I’ll figure it out on my own anyway.” Harry said.

“Thanks.” I said. I shrunk the egg and dropped it into my pocket, before hurrying out of the library and down to the dungeons. Just before I entered the common room, I brought the egg back up to its normal size. 

My friends were huddled in the corner by the lake. The merpeople had continued to make and excessive number of appearances this year, so I wasn’t surprised to see a bubblegum-pink haired mermaid floating near them, listening in, to collect all of the gossip. 

Daphne seemed to be animatedly telling a story, so I hurried over to hear. I reached them in time to hear Daphne exclaim, “And then Krum asked me to be his date to the Yule Ball!”

“Did you say yes?” I asked, drawing their attention to me.

“Yes, of cour-” Daphne began.

But, she was cut off by Pansy’s exclamation, “How did you get that?”

“I stole it from Potter,” I boasted, smirking. “It’s some kind of clue as to what the next task is.”

“Well go on, open it then,” Blaise pushed.

Begrudgingly, I did so and the dreadful shrieking echoed around the common room. I hurriedly closed it back up. Moments later, amongst the dirty looks from our fellow Slytherins, a sixth year boy made his way to us. He cried out, “That was a mermaid!” And I immediately recognized him as the boy who had fallen in love with one. So this was mermish! Simply amplified to be much louder than what was natural. 

I looked to the mermaid who had been eavesdropping on our conversation and asked, “Can you translate?”

“Of course,” She said serenely. 

Before reopening the egg, I announced, “Alright everyone, we are going to be opening the egg again.” There were several groans and boos, but no one actually came over and objected. I sat down close to the glass and opened a bottle of ink. I dipped in my quill and positioned it above a bit of blank parchment before opening the egg once more.

***

By the time we had finished, my ears were ringing, but it was all there:

Come seek us where our voices sound, we cannot sing above the ground, and while you’re searching, ponder this: we’ve taken what you’ll sorely miss, an hour long you’ll have to look, and to recover what we took, but past an hour — the prospects black, too late, it’s gone, it won’t come back. 

“So the merpeople are going to take something from each of the champions and they’ve got to go into the lake for an hour and find the thing that was taken?” I asked.

Tracey read over my shoulder, “We’ve taken what you’ll sorely miss. So it has got to be something important, right?”

We sat there, pondering for a bit before Draco said, “What if it’s a person? I mean really, something that you’ll sorely miss, objects are replaceable, people aren’t.”

“Some people have irreplaceable objects.” Theo pointed out.

“Yeah, family heirlooms.” Pansy agreed.

“Yeah but do you really think Potter’s got any family heirlooms laying around?” Draco scoffed. And he was right, we didn’t have anything from our parents, though Potter heirlooms did likely exist.

“I don’t think he would be the sort to hold any emotional attachment to them either,” I pointed out. The others nodded their agreement.

“Maybe his Firebolt?” Suggested Millicent.

“Replaceable.” I said, waving it off. “I think Draco’s right, it’s got to be a person.”

Daphne and Tracey glanced at me and I shook my head ever so slightly. Tracey piped up, “It could be one of his little friends, Granger or Weasley.”

“What about the others?” Theo asked, “Fleur and Krum, I mean. They’ve got most of the people they know back home. So what if the people they care about are all back home?”

“That’s a good point, are they going to have to bring someone in?” Blaise asked, “That could get messy. And it would have to be someone really important to them right?” 

“Yeah, I’d think so.” Pansy said, squinting into the water. “And that begs the question, how could someone breathe underwater for an hour?” I shrugged, looking down. That’s when I noticed the time. It was only nine minutes under the peak of the full moon.

“Oh shit!” I shouted, jumping up and startling everyone at the table, “Draco, the moon!” He scrambled from his seat too. “Get your cocoon, vial and silver teaspoon of dew! Oh and your broomstick! Hurry! I rushed up to my room and grabbed the things we would need.

By the time we were back in the common room, there were seven minutes to go. The others were asking for explanations, but there wasn’t the time. We raced from the common room and out onto the grounds. We found a patch of moonlight streaming down to the ground with one minute to spare. We hurried to unstick each other’s mandrake leaves and place them in our respective vials. Then we each added one of our own hairs, followed by the cocoons and the dew. I sighed in relief when everything was done.

“We better cast that spell, yeah?” He nodded. “Amato animato animagus.” I recited and he followed suit. We hadn’t bothered with the invisibility cloak on the way out, but on the return trip we chose to be less reckless. In my haste, I had forgotten the map, so we were flying blind.

We crept through the corridors and had nearly reached the common room when someone made an appearance. “What the hell?” I hissed. The skin on the back of Draco’s neck pebbled from my breath.

“What?” He whispered back.

It was Lupin. Walking, human. On a full moon. “Lupin, he’s a werewolf. It’s a full moon. How the hell is he human?”

“Our teacher is a werewolf?” Draco whisper shouted, alarmed. Too loud. Lupin’s head snapped in our direction. I gulped and carefully, we edged along the corridor. Once we got back to the Slytherin common room, I shedded the cloak with Draco. But when he walked through the entrance, I remained firmly planted just outside the threshold. I pressed my animagus potion into his hand. “What are you doing?” He asked.

“I have to tell Dumbledore what we just saw.” I explained. “Wrap that up in some socks and leave it in my bedside drawer for me, would you?” He nodded and disappeared into the room.

I pulled the cloak over myself once more and headed back up, and out of the dungeons. It was another guessing game to determine Dumbledore’s password. But after several attempts I managed to get it right. It wasn’t too late, so I figured he would still be awake. After all, he had been when I had gone to him in the middle of the night last year. Sadly I seemed to be mistaken, as the Headmaster’s office was vacant. 

I circled the room, taking the moment to explore in my invisible state. He had a rather old looking cabinet sat off towards the side. I brushed a finger across the wood. It looked rather odd, seeing my finger floating there, all alone. Carefully, I pulled open the door. In the very back of the top shelf, there was a collection of very decrepit books that looked as though they hadn’t seen the light of day in a very long time. Slowly, I reached out a hand and pulled the largest one from the shelf. 

Fawkes let out an anguished cry and I whirled around to face her. She was staring directly at me. Shit. I hurriedly began shrinking the books and dropping them into my pocket. I didn’t know why, but I had been drawn to them. I wanted to find out what was inside them and why Dumbledore had kept them from the library. Fawkes shrieked again and again. I heard footsteps coming towards me. But I had all the books. I left the room just as Dumbledore entered, his wand drawn. 

***

The night before the Yule Ball, lightning struck. Draco and I went outside to meet it. We cast the spell one last time and drank our potions. That second heart beat that had been echoing in my ears for the past week grew louder, more intense, until it was one with the first. 

My vision flashed with the lightning and I felt myself changing, morphing into something else. It didn’t hurt, it felt more like an aching. I closed my eyes and breathed in long and slow. When my eyes opened, a white wolf stood before me. I lifted my front paw and looked at it, it felt strange, like I was operating in an alien body. I supposed that was exactly what I was doing. Just as I had expected, I was a fox. 

My sense of smell was impeccable, as was my sight and hearing. We had done it! Both Draco and I had done it.

***

We had run for hours in the forbidden forest, Draco and I. He was much larger than me, but despite his longer legs, I could keep up just fine.

I wore sky blue robes to the Yule Ball that went beautifully with Draco’s dress robes. The pair of us received a multitude of compliments from fellow Slytherins and other houses alike. We grinned and danced and laughed the night away. 

I noticed Ron and Harry sulking in the corner with Hermione and Ginny looking equally unhappy. “What’s up with you?” I asked them, then turned to Hermione and Ginny and added, “You two look extraordinary!”

“Thank you,” Hermione said, monotone. “Ronald here, is refusing to dance.”

“So is Harry.” Ginny added. I glared at the pair of them, though I couldn’t hold it, with how dreadful Ron’s robes looked. They were a maroon that clashed horribly with his hair. 

Just then, Fred and his friend, Lee Jordan came over, both grinning from ear to ear. “Mione,” Fred said, offering his hand, “Want to dance?” Hermione glanced at Ron, but when he made no objections, she stood and took his hand.

“Ginny?” Lee asked, “What do you say?” He offered up his own arm.

“Sure,” She said, not even deigning to look Harry’s way.

“Idiots,” I scoffed, “The both of you.”

“At least I’m not here with Malfoy.” Ron growled.

I narrowed my eyes at him, “Watch it.” I snarled before disappearing back into the crowd of dancing couples.

Several minutes later, I was glad to see Hermione smiling, laughed and even... blushing a little. Ginny was smiling too, but she was no longer dancing with Lee and instead sitting with Tracey, who seemed to be animated telling some story. I hoped the two of them would become friends, it would be wonderful too have more Gryffindor-Slytherin duos.

I had yet to tell Harry about the clue inside the egg, but Daphne, Tracey, Astoria and I had spent several hours in the library, reading countless books, trying to uncover some way of breathing underwater for an hour. Thus far, our efforts had been fruitless. I wasn’t worried yet, we still had two months to uncover a solution. We would be returning to the library again tomorrow, this time with the additions of Neville and Luna. I hoped they would be able to help us, though they had yet to find out the actual reason behind the decision to meet in the library.

***

“Okay so, we are looking for a way to make it so someone can breathe underwater... for an hour.” I explained to Luna and Neville the next day in the library.

They were eager to help and began to read books from the extensive pile we had collected. About twenty minutes in Neville jumped up and said, “Hang on! I’ve just remembered something!” Without a further word of explanation, he dashed from the library, amidst glares from the other studying students.

We went back to our reading and acted as though nothing had happened. It was a good fifteen minutes before Neville returned, a book tucked under his arm. “So, at the beginning of the year, Lupin gave me this book, for Herbology. And see, it has every plant and its uses. And I think...” He flipped hurriedly through the pages. “Ah ha! Here.” He said, proudly displaying the page to the rest of us. I scanned over it and saw that it was all about gillyweed.

I grew more and more excited the further on I read, “Gillyweed, first discovered by herbologist, Beaumont Marjoribanks in the early 1800s, is famous, not for its part in the creation of gillywater, but for its altering abilities when consumed by a human or human-like species. When ingested, in its natural form, it is capable of morphing a human into obtaining many sea creature-like attributes, such as gills, webbing between the fingers, elongating of the feet, webbing of the toes, removing the need to blink, immunity to frigid temperatures and enhanced speed within waters. This is perfect!” I said and read further down the page, “And here, in fresh waters, the effects of a single sprig will last for an hour. This is exactly what we’ve been looking for!”

“This says that is a common potion ingredient and therefore in the supply stores of most botanists and potioneers.” Luna said, displaying mild excitement. 

“Snape’ll have some then!” I said. “I’ll have to talk to Harry, make him ask Snape for some, it can’t look like we’ve been doing all of the work or he’ll be disqualified.”

***

“I know you think he hates you!” I said, “But you need this!”

“He won’t give it to me!” Harry fired back.

“If he doesn’t give it to you, then I’ll ask him.” I said. “But you have to try first! Daphne, Draco and I already figured out the clue for you and Neville figured out how you could breathe, you’ve got to do some of the work.”

He huffed, “Fine. But the Slytherins don’t know that they were helping me right? You haven’t told them your secret, our secret?”

“No,” I lied, “Of course I haven’t. Plus, I’m not even the secret keeper.”

“Good, because if something happened to Sirius-”

“I know,” I snapped. “They’d become secret keepers too. Go, you’ve got to get your Gillyweed. Better to ask now, before half the class butchers today’s potion.”

Startled by my sudden ferocity, he faltered a few steps before managing to drop his things off at a desk in the back of the class. Harry walked up to Snape’s desk and I could tell he was terrified. As I unpacked my things with one hand, the other was under the table, to conceal my crossed fingers.

They were at an angle to me, so I could see the side of both their faces. Harry said something, that seemed to be a rambled, jumbled mess and Snape frowned. His eyes darted around the room and landed on me for a split second, before returning to Harry. Slowly, he nodded and walked into his office. He re-emerged a moment later with a sprig of gillyweed in his hand. He passed it to Harry without a word. I saw Harry’s muttered ‘Thanks’ before he returned to his seat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it!


	14. The Second Task

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, I’ve had bad writer’s block for the past week. Here it is.

I was walking down the hallway with Hermione, the evening before the second task.

“It’s been nearly a month and I’m proud to say, I think I’m finally over him,” We were talking about Ron, of course.

“And Ginny’s over Harry?” I asked. Hermione nodded. The boys had lost them both because of the way they’d acted at the ball. Neither of them had danced with their dates, aside from the opening song when all of the champions had to dance with their partners. “So, what about Fred then?”

Her face flushed, “What about him?”

“I knew it!” I said, “You like him!”

“I do not!” She spluttered, not at all convincingly.

“Mione, I’m not going to make fun of you. I personally think you two would be a good couple, a great couple even, much better than you and Ron anyway.” I said.

“Fine, I like him,” She admitted, “He’s actually really smart and funny and... genuine.”

“Miss. Evans,” Said a voice... Snape.

I turned to look at him, “Yes?”

“You and Miss. Granger are needed in the Hospital Wing.” He said.

“What? Why?” I asked alarmed, was someone hurt? Harry?

“It’s for the tournament, I can’t explain here, once you get there though...” He trailed off.

“Right,” I said and Hermione and I began walking, a short distance behind him. “It must be for the second task, but I thought each champion would only have one hostage.”

Hermione shrugged and we made the rest of the journey in silence.

When we reached the hospital wing, there were two others already there; Cho Chang and a girl who looked like a mini version of Fleur, a little sister, no doubt.

“What is going on?” Asked Cho coldly, her arms crossed in annoyance.

A ministry wizard entered in billowing magenta robes and Snape took his leave with the parting words of, “He’ll explain everything.”

“Right, so,” The man began, “Each of you have been deemed to be the most important person to one one of the champions, or rather you are the person they care about most. We preformed a complex spell to determine it. Miss. Evans, you are Mr. Potter’s, Delacour with Delacour, Granger with Krum, and Miss. Chang, you are Cedric’s.”

“Excuse me?” Cho said.

“For the second task, you will be petrified and taken to the bottom of the lake, don’t worry, you’ll be fine. It will be up to the champions to locate and save you.” The wizard explained.

“I don’t want to go in the lake,” Fleur’s little sister said softly.

“I don’t want to either,” I piped up.

“Yeah,” Hermione agreed, “We didn’t enter our names in the Goblet of Fire because we didn’t want to be a part of the tournament. You have no right to force us into it now!” The rest of us nodded in agreement, “I’ve already been petrified enough for one lifetime!”

“The whole point of the task is for the champions to save you!” The wizard exclaimed.

“We don’t need to be saved!” I said. “Expelliarmus!” His wand flew through the air and I caught it with practiced ease. His face reddened in anger.

“Give that back or I will have you arrested! You cannot take a ministry member’s wand!” He snapped.

“You’re trying to attack us!” I snapped right back. Fleur’s sister was far too young to have a wand, but Hermione, Cho and I all did and they were pointed straight at the wizard.

“This is ridiculous,” He huffed, taking another step towards us. At the same time, three stunning spells hit him square in the chest and he went flying back, smashing into the wall of the hospital wing. He was knocked out cold. I took the opportunity to fling his wand out the window. Then we made our escape.

“What’s your name?” Hermione asked the little girl.

“Gabrielle,” She replied.

“You’re Fleur’s sister, right?” I asked. She nodded. “Alright, let’s go find her.” I said.

“I can’t believe the ministry,” Hermione said angrily.

Cho laughed, “I know right, how could they have thought we would just go along with that?”

Just then, McGonagall strode around the corner, walking towards us. She looked at us and then had to do a double take. “Emma, Hermione, I thought- Cho, Gabrielle! What is going on, all of you are supposed to be in the hospital wing.”

I scoffed, “What, so we could be petrified and dumped into the Great Lake? Yeah, right.”

Professor McGonagall put her hands on her hips and gawked at us. “Where is Ophiar?”

“Who?” Hermione and I asked in unison.

“The wizard who was meant to petrify you.” McGonagall replied, exasperation lacing her every word.

“Oh, him.” Cho said, laughing, “We knocked him out.”

“What?” McGonagall burst, “Why?”

“He was trying to petrify us!” I said. Why was it so hard for everyone to understand that we didn’t want to be petrified?

“It was for the task!”

“So?” Hermione inquired, “We aren’t a part of the tournament!”

Dumbledore rounded the corner before McGonagall could say anything more. “What do we have here?” He asked.

“I refuse to be a part of this frivolous tournament!” I said, rather loudly. Other students were beginning to look at us now.

“The lake is scary.” Gabrielle added.

Dumbledore seemed rather taken aback by my proclamation and stared at us for a long moment before responding. “Do all of you feel this way?”

Cho and Hermione nodded. I crossed my arms and widened my stance, concealing the wand gripped tightly in my hand. I was not above trying to stun Dumbledore. And suddenly Snape was there. What was this, the teacher’s secret meeting place?

“Emma?” He asked, “Granger? I took you two to the hospital wing half an hour ago.”

“We escaped,” I said.

“You had no need to escape.” He said slowly, eyeing all of us. “You’ll be under the water for an hour and if your champion fails to rescue you, the merpeople will bring you up. As soon as you reach the surface, you will be revived. If you can’t swim, the merpeople will help you. I made the potion myself, you won’t be harmed and you certainly won’t drown.”

I relaxed slightly, Snape had made the potion. That meant it was safe. “Okay,” I said, nodding slowly.

“Okay?” He asked.

“Okay.” I confirmed. “I’ll do it.”

“Right then,” Dumbledore said, “Do we need to replace the rest of you or will you do it?”

“I can do it,” Gabrielle said softly.

“I’ll do it too,” Cho grumbled.

“Ugh, fine then.” Hermione said breathily, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring halfheartedly at me. All of us trekked back to the hospital wing, to find the wizard still unconscious where we had left him.

One by one, Snape handed a vial of potion to each of us. Gabrielle downed hers immediately, followed by Cho, then Hermione. Finally, I took mine. It was thick and slimy going down. I felt everything slowing down, my movements became sluggish. Before I was petrified completely, I managed to grind out, “Tell Harry not to be the hero.”

A sudden light hit my eyes and I was drenched in water, freezing cold water. I gasped for breath, trying desperately to keep my head from sinking beneath the surface. Harry was beside me, he pointed his wand at himself and muttered something. I couldn't hear the spell, but slowly the gills on his neck began to sink away into his skin, until they’d vanished completely. Together, we made it to the edge of the lake and scrabbled out onto solid ground. I was freezing as Snape hurried over to us. He had giant woolen blankets in his arms and when he reached us, he wrapped one around my shoulders, and the other around Harry.

“Where are the others?” I asked.

“You’re the first ones up,” Snape said.

I grinned at Harry, “Good job.”

“Thanks.” He said, grinning right back.

“You know, you could actually win this thing.” I said to him.

He shrugged, “We’ll see, still plenty of time for me to die.”

I lightly shoved him, laughing, “Don’t say things like that!” Just then, I saw Draco in the stands, staring straight at me and I knew just how he would see this. He seemed to be trying to stare his way into my very soul, or trying to read my mind.

As soon as the others had made it back to land and scores were given, I hurried off to find Draco. He was standing with his arms crossed, leaning against a tree, waiting for me. As soon as I reached him, he began to walk quickly back towards the castle. He wouldn’t even look at me.

“Draco-”

“Don’t.”

“Draco, please, just listen.” I tried, reaching out for his hand, but he tore it away from my reach.

“You could have just told me.” He growled. “You didn’t have to date him behind my back.”

“It’s not like that!” I said, nearly pleading, “I don’t like him.”

“Well he clearly likes you and you two were being awfully friendly down on the shore.”

“It isn’t what you think!” I shouted. We were in the corridor now and people were beginning to watch us. Great. This was the second time today that I had caused a scene. I pulled him into an open classroom and closed the door.

“Then what is it?” He asked.

“He’s my-” And curse that damned fidelius charm for stopping me. “I can’t tell you.” I said softly. “I’m sorry. I want to.”

He let out a long sigh and massaged his temples. “Why not?”

“Because I’m not the secret keeper.” My mind was racing... the secret keeper was here though! “Come on.” I said, frantically bursting back out of the classroom.

I hurried down corridor after corridor until I finally came upon Sirius. He was standing on the grounds, not far from the castle, beneath one of the trees. He was staring longingly at someone who I couldn’t see through the window, but I could guess easily enough. He still hadn’t gotten over Remus breaking up with him.

I wove in and out of various students before finally reached the exit onto the grounds.

“Sirius!” I called and his head snapped around to face me. He waved to acknowledge that he’d heard me and waited until I was right beside him. I looked around to see that Draco was a little ways back, walking towards us.

“Hey! Em, Harry did really well, yeah?” He greeted.

I laughed, “I mean I don’t actually know what happened, could you guys see what happened down in the lake?”

“No, we couldn’t see anything, all I know is that he came up twenty minutes before anyone else did.” Sirius said. By that point, Draco had joined us.

“Can you tell him the secret?” I asked Sirius.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” I said. It was time, past time if I was being honest with myself. I should have told him first.

Draco was staring at Sirius expectantly. “Emma’s real last name is Potter, not Evans. She is Harry Potter’s full, biological sister. They share parents, James Potter and Lily Evans Potter.”


	15. Almost There

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for the cliffhanger and the wait! I hope you enjoy!

Draco’s eyes snapped to mine and he whispered, “Emma?” I nodded, it was all I could muster. He exhaled, long and slow. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked after a long moment of silence.

“Sirius is the secret keeper. I tried to, a bunch of different times, but I physically couldn’t get the words out.” I said, softly, hoping beyond hope that he wouldn’t be angry with me.

Draco’s eyes flickered back to Sirius, as though scrutinizing him. “I’ll give you two some privacy.” Sirius said and strode off, likely to try and get a better view of Remus.

Draco rounded on me, “You should have told me sooner.”

“I’m sorry.” I said, “I was scared, you hate him so much. I didn’t want you to hate me too.”

He sighed and the tension drained from his shoulders. “Em, you should know by now, I could never hate you. I haven’t got it in me.”

My eyes flickered across the grounds to where Remus stood, as relief flowed through me by the bucket full. I squinted at Remus, trying to discern what he was doing. Drinking. He was drinking something from a small flask. Was he drunk? He’d been different this whole year, ever since he broke up with Sirius. I chalked his actions up to him trying to find his way through the pain of the breakup, but could this be something more? Could he be an alcoholic? Did wizards even have alcoholics?

Draco asked, “Who else knows?” Shit. I had been hoping he wouldn’t ask me that. I was hoping I would be able to get through this conversation without having to tell him.

I couldn’t meet his eyes as I uttered my next sentence, “I’m sorry, a lot of people do.”

“Who?” He asked, his voice minutely harder.

“Draco-”

“Who?” He repeated, louder this time, cutting me off.

“The teachers of course, Snape, McGonagall, Remus, he’s my Godfather, but he doesn’t want anything to do with me, Dumbledore, Sprout. The more trustworthy ones at least. Professor Burbage does too. I don’t think Trelawney does though... too air headed. Oh and Hagrid, but he was told the night my parents died, so that wasn’t really up to me. My aunt and uncle, my cousin and Harry, of course. The Weasleys, but Dumbledore told them so that I would have a wizarding family to stay with. That was before I even met them. All of their children were told too, and Hermione. But none of that was up to me.” I rambled.

“Emma,” Draco said, “Who did you tell?”

I could have sworn he could hear the thumping of my heart, for it was dreadfully loud with my fear. “I told a few people...” I drifted off into silence, but with a meaningful look from Draco, I continued on, “Daphne knows... Tracey, Astoria, Neville, Alyssa, Luna, Colin, Dennis.” I spat out the last few names in a mumbled rush, hoping he wouldn’t catch them. But of course, he did.

“I don’t even know who some of those people are!” He said. “And you trusted them over me? Do you really think so little of me? You thought I would hate you? You didn’t think I’d still be your friend? You didn’t trust me to keep your secret! You lied to me a thousand times, over and over again!”

“I’m sorry,” I said, trying to hold back the tears that lurked just behind my eyes. “I was scared!”

“Then why? Why tell the others? Why tell Daphne and Tracey and the others?” He burst out.

“Because, I could stand to lose them. If they decided to hate me, it would be no great loss, but you... I couldn’t lose you...” I trailed off. I knew if I said anything else, my voice would have broken and I could not stand to be so weak, not now, not after all of this was my fault.

“Why me?! What makes me so special?”

“Because you’re... because I... I like you. I really, really like you, Draco.” I said in a hushed voice, even more terrified now, than I had been moments ago.

He faltered, the response he had prepared coming up short. He had opened his mouth, and now closed it once again. Finally, after what seemed like ages, but was likely only seconds, he asked, “That’s it? You like me? That’s why you were afraid to tell me?” I nodded, beyond words. There was a dreadful lump in my throat, the size of a grapefruit, keeping me from speaking. He stared at me for a long time, scrutinizing me. His eyes softened after a long moment and then he was leaning towards me, I thought it was to hug me, but then his lips were on mine and he was kissing me.

My brain stopped working, so I was slow to realize that I was supposed to kiss him back. He pulled away and grinned at me, lopsided and goofy and adorable. I returned it.

“Okay, I’ll forgive you... if... you’ll be my girlfriend.” He said, smiling down at me.

My heart stuttered. I raised my brows at him and pretended to contemplate my response. “Hmm, alright, if you insist.”

He was positively beaming. I knew I must be too.

***

My time was consumed by books, quills, long rolls of parchment and bottles of spilled ink. The latter was mostly due to Latte and Emmett, who insisted on constantly swiping the little bottles off the edge of the desk in Draco’s room. He was always quick to swoop in and siphon away the mess. He never seemed to run out of ink either.

He had made his bed larger too with extensio spatium. I had taken to spending the nights, and I had even moved some of my things over to it, mostly pictures and clothes, books too. I had taken all of the books that I had stolen from Dumbledore, and read through them endlessly. The only time I wasn’t reading them was when I was doing homework or researching things that could help Harry with the third and final task.

I had scrolls covered in my notes. It had taken weeks, but finally, I was almost positive that I had figured out what the diary was; a horcrux. I had written down the definition of a horcrux at the top of one of my scrolls of parchment, and it seemed to be the best fit out of anything in any of the books.

_A horcrux is a piece of the soul that has been placed into another vessel through murder, as a means to achieve immortality._

Below that I had written down the known way to destroy a horcrux.

_A horcrux can be destroyed by damaging its container beyond repair._

That particular book had not gone into anymore depth, but I had scribbled an idea.

_Basilisk Fang/venom?_

I had later come across another book that had mentioned a couple of other ways.

_Fiendfyre_

_Dragon’s fire breath_

_Killing curse_

Of course there was still the matter of figuring out whether or not Voldemort had ever created other horcruxes, and if he had, what were they? I had no idea how I would figure any of that out, but now was not the time to worry about it. I needed to focus on my astronomy essay. I had been so caught up in the horcruxes and the third task, that I had completely forgotten about the essay. It was due tomorrow and I hadn’t even started.

I read over the prompt once more. The effects asteroids, auroras and black holes have on magical shifts on Earth. I stared at it for a very long time, with periodic glances at my watch.

Draco looked over at me, I could feel his eyes, but I did not turn. “Em, you can just copy mine if you’d like.” He said when he’d realized I had made absolutely no progress.

“I hate copying,” I muttered as I pulled his completed essay onto the table, beside my own blank one. I hastily paraphrased his words, while simultaneously checking over his work. He had made a few minor errors, to which I crossed out and corrected, it was the least I could do.

When I finally turned out the light and collapsed onto Draco’s bed, it was well past midnight. Latte and Emmett curled against me, purring happily.

***

“Barty Crouch is dead.”

“What?” I asked, shocked by Daphne’s words.

“Barty Crouch is dead.” She repeated. “I heard it from Tracey, who heard it from Theo, who heard it from his boyfriend, Jason, who heard it from Cedric, who heard it from Cho, who heard it from Luna, who heard it from Ginny, who heard it from Ron, who heard it from Harry.”

“What?” I asked again, even more confused now then ever before. But one thing had gotten through to me, that old wretched man was gone. I couldn’t say I was sorry, I couldn’t say that I cared in the slightest. “So what if he’s dead?” I asked.

“He was murdered, here on Hogwarts grounds.” Daphne said. That got my attention. “Krum and your brother found him in the Forbidden Forest.”

“What were Krum and Harry doing in the Forbidden Forest in the first place?” I asked.

“That much, I don’t know.” Daphne said, coming up short. “You should talk to Harry, I’m sure he’ll tell you.”

“Speaking of Harry, have you made any progress with him?” I asked.

She shook her head, “It’s been far too crazy as of late, I haven’t had the chance.” I nodded.

“With exams in less than two weeks and then the final task, it has certainly been a lot.” I agreed. “I have been studying seven hours a day and then trying to find ways to help Harry. I mean, he’s at such a disadvantage, only fourteen while all the rest are of age, he is too young for this.” I said, massaging my temples with my thumbs. “I haven’t been getting enough sleep.”

“Alright how about this,” Daphne said, “We can take turns trying to help your brother, it’ll help your sleep at least.”

“No, no.” I insisted, “I’m fine, just being dramatic, I’ve got this.” I hurried off down the corridor. History of Magic’s last class would be happening in a few moments and it was sure to be a bore as always.

Barty Crouch... murdered. My first thought went to Remus and the utter contempt he had demonstrated towards Crouch during their few minor interactions. Remus. Remus. Remus! I had forgotten all about Remus, with my worry for Harry. Remus had been out during a full moon, in human form. There was something fishy about that, but I couldn’t go to a teacher about it without condemning myself for being out of bed after hours.

I was so lost in thought that I walked right past the History of Magic classroom. My the time I noticed my error and doubled back, Daphne had reached the door. “Where did you go?” She hissed as we walked inside.

“Into my head, a bit too deep, sorry.” She gave me an odd look and took her seat.

***

Exams were upon us before I knew it. Harry didn’t have to take them this year, the lucky bastard. I cursed myself for having even thought that, someone was trying to kill him and I was calling him lucky.

First was History of Magic. Easy. Then Divination. Followed by Muggle Studies. Astronomy. Transfiguration. Defense Against the Dark Arts. Potions. Care of Magical Creatures. Charms. Herbology. Finally, after two weeks, everything was done and finished with. The eight of us Slytherins, spent the days following obsessing over questions and answers, over how we thought we’d done and what we thought we got right and wrong.

I sat with Draco, under the big tree beside the lake, studying, talking, or even just sitting there, basking in the silence. I rested my head on his shoulder and breathed in the scent of him. He smelled so very wonderful. Something I had only just begun to notice.

The sun set and rose and set again. And then it was the day of the third task and terror planted itself deep in my belly, something was going to go wrong, I knew it, I could just feel it. But what could I do? What could anyone do to save my beloved brother?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of the support! I love reading your comments, so keep them coming!


	16. The Third Task

The lot of us were packed into the stands that surrounded the Quidditch pitch. The Quidditch pitch that was no longer the Quidditch pitch. They had warped and destroyed our precious pitch, turned it into a dangerous maze filled to the brim with monsters, things who would work their hardest to end my brother’s life. The world was closing in around and that fear was taking over once again. A part of me wished that I could be petrified during this task too, and only wake up when it was all over. But alas, I knew it was best for me to stay awake.

I had an advantage over the rest of the spectators though, my map, the marauder’s map showed the pitch, showed the maze. I would be able to see where he was, if he was close to the cup, if he was alive. The last part sent chills cascading over my skin. A lump had formed itself deep in my throat, and refused to budge. At least now I had Draco with me, now that he knew what was going on. The full extent of it.

I had the map pulled out, unfolded and activated across mine and Draco’s laps. My head was rested on his shoulder and his arm was around mine. Latte was curled against me and Emmett was curled against him. Honey had intertwined herself around our feet, I don’t know why, but her presence comforted me the most.

Since Harry was ranked in first place, he was the first to enter the maze. Second to go was Cedric, then Krum, and lastly Fleur. I followed their names on the map, but confusion swept over me when I saw Fleur come into contact with a tag labeled ‘Barty Crouch’.

“Draco?” I said, and pointed to the little spot.

“What the hell?” He muttered, “I thought he was dead.”

“So did I,” I said, squinting down at the old parchment. Suddenly red sparks that signaled danger flew into the air from within the maze. I glanced up at them and then over at Draco, “That came from just about where Fleur is.” I hissed.

“Do you think Barty faked his death so he could sabotage the champions without anyone noticing? Maybe he was the one to put Harry’s name into the Goblet of Fire.” Draco whispered into my ear.

“But why?” I asked, “It doesn’t make any sense. None of this makes any sense.”

We went back to watching the map. After several minutes, Draco beckoned for my attention. Crouch had just encountered Krum. Red sparks didn’t make their way into the air this time, but Krum did change his path immediately. He intercepted Cedric and then Harry was there too and red sparks shot up.

“What is going on?” I said in a hushed whisper, utterly lost. Krum’s tag had stopped moving, just like Fleur’s, and Crouch was no where to be found. Cedric and Harry split paths and continued on separate ways through the maze. I couldn't see the actual hedges on the map, but I did know the general location of the TriWizard Cup. And both Cedric and Harry seemed to be taking separate paths to get there, for both were heading straight for it. I knew they would reach it near the same time, it was a race.

Within a few minutes, their paths crossed again. I was sure they were close to the cup, but I didn’t know how close. Suddenly they were both moving very quickly in the same direction and then...

They.

Were.

Gone.

Just vanished. Into thin air.

Unless...

No!

I refused to entertain the thought. They couldn’t be dead! My brother just couldn’t be dead!

“Draco!” I gasped, a sob lodged deep in my throat. “Draco, they’re gone!” It split out of me on that last word.

“Hey, hey, hey.” He soothed, “It’s alright, it’s alright. Let me see.” He scanned the map for a long while.

“They aren’t there,” I moaned, tears falling freely now.

“What’s going on?” Asked Daphne.

“Harry and Cedric have vanished.” Draco explained quietly.

“What does that mean?” Tracey asked, leaning in.

“It means that they’ve either teleported or... they’re dead.” Draco whispered, the last bit was barely audible.

I jumped up, tearing the map from Draco and hurried down to the ground, where all of the teachers stood. Snape was off to the side and I rushed to him. “What is it? What’s wrong?” He asked as soon as he saw my expression.

“Harry’s vanished from my map!” I cried, my vision blurred with tears. He grabbed the map from me and looked over the whole thing several times over. And then Draco was there, looking with Snape. Sirius bolted over and his hands were on my shoulders before I knew it.

“Emma, what’s wrong?” He asked, concern written all over his face.

“It’s Harry,” I said, but nothing else would come out. I was too overwhelmed, too afraid.

Draco picked up and explained for me, “We were watching Harry on the Marauder’s Map, and then he just vanished all of a sudden. We don’t know what happened, but Cedric vanished too. They both started running in the same direction at the same time and then they were gone.”

Sirius looked to Snape and asked, “How is that possible? Are there any ways to teleport out of the Hogwarts grounds?”

“The Floo, of course, and then there’s portkeys, I highly doubt it could have been the former so it must be the latter.” Snape said.

“Can we find out where it went?” Draco asked.

Snape sighed. “No. All we can do is wait.” And wait, we did. We waited for what felt like hours. But I had no way of knowing how much time had actually passed.

There was a loud pop and then two people were on the ground, one on his back and the other crouched over him. The latter was clutching onto the TriWizard Cup and sounded like he was sobbing. It was dark, so very dark that it took my eyes a moment to adjust. Then it came to me, Cedric was on the ground, and it was Harry over him. It was Harry who was sobbing.

“Harry!” I gasped out and tried to go to him. But then Sirius and Snape had hold of me, each of them had grabbed one of my arms. I attempted to twist out of their grips, but they were two grown men and I was a thirteen year old girl who just barely made it past five feet. I was no match for them. “Let me go!” I shrieked, “Harry!” Somehow I managed to escape them, but I hardly made it three steps before Draco was there again, blocking my path.

He put his hands on my shoulders, trying to soothe me. It didn’t work. “Get out of my way,” I ground out through gritted teeth.

“Emma, it’s okay, just stay back, let Dumbledore help him.” Draco said. Over Draco’s shoulder, I could see Dumbledore and Remus crowded around Harry, McGonagall rushed over and joined them as I watched.

“Get. Out. Of. My. Way.” I growled.

“No!” He said. I shoved him out of the way and lunged for Harry. But Sirius caught me and pulled me back again. Why was everyone so insistent in keeping me away? I clawed at Sirius’ arms, but this time he didn’t release me. Harry was standing now, and Remus, who had wanted nothing to do with us thus far, was leading him away.

“Let me go!” I screamed, “Let me go... let me go...” But Harry was out of my sight now, disappeared into the night. It took a while for me to calm down, but once I finally had, Sirius let me go. I slumped onto the ground, where the map had been discarded and saw, to my horror, that Harry wasn’t with Remus at all, he was with Barty Crouch. “Sirius,” I hissed, grabbing up the map, “Sirius!”

He crouched down beside me. “What is it?” He asked.

“Look.” I whispered and pointed at Harry and Crouch’s dots. I searched through the rest of the castle and found Remus, much too far to have just been here, in his office. “And here.”

“What the hell?” Sirius muttered. “Crouch was meant to be dead.”

“He must have faked it, Sirius, I think, I think he was the one who put Harry’s name in the Goblet of Fire.” I said, standing back up. “We have to go, we have to get to them.”

Sirius nodded and started towards the castle. I followed close behind him, I was so worried for Harry that I didn’t stop to think about, the screams from the audience, the shrieks of Amos Diggory, the fact that Cedric had not moved. I took in all of that information and shoved it to the side, didn’t process it.

I stalked across the grounds, towards the castle doors. I sped up to walk in stride with Sirius, and startled when Draco came to walk on my other side. Slowly, things began to click in my brain. I had seen Remus, walking about during a full moon, human. And then, just as now, it hadn’t been Remus at all, but someone parading around, pretending to be him.

No, not someone, Crouch. Then another memory came to me. A memory from back in December, when Crouch had been in Snape’s potion stock in the middle of the night. He had been stealing ingredients to brew polyjuice potions. That begged another question, how long? Had it been the whole year? Maybe Remus hadn’t broken up with Sirius at all, maybe it had been Crouch all along. Remus could have been trapped in his office, for a very long time.

The claustrophobia of being trapped for so long made my heart stutter and my step faltered minutely.

Suddenly Snape was on Draco’s other side, his dark cloak billowing out behind him. And then McGonagall and Dumbledore were there too.

After only a few minutes, we were inside the castle and just outside Remus’ office. Dumbledore said, “Draco, Emma, stay out here and wait for me to say it’s safe.” But alas, I had other plans.

I pulled my wand from my pocket and slammed the door open, “Stupefy!” Crouch flew back and rammed into the wall at the back of the office. Then he slumped to the floor, unconscious.

Harry stared at me, wide eyed and confused. “Emma! What did you do?”

I crossed the room to him and wrapped my arms around him, “Harry, that isn’t Remus, it’s an imposter, using polyjuice potion. Are you alright?” I pulled back from his to examine his face, search him for any injuries. His forearm was bleeding heavily. “Vulnera Sanentur!” And this time, it worked, it seemed I was finally strong enough to preform it. The wound knit itself together. “Tergeo!” The blood vanished too, giving way to clear, pale skin, blemished by a jagged scar.

Once I was certain he was alright, I unfolded my map and moved around the room until my dot was practically on top of Remus’s. I found myself to be standing directly in front of a chest that I had never seen before. This hadn’t been in Remus’ office at all last year.

“He’s in here,” I said, gesturing to it. Dumbledore strode over and used a silent spell to unlock the chest. Slowly, painfully slowly, Dumbledore opened the lid.

Nothing happened.

I moved forward and peered inside, there, several yards down, was Remus. He was so thin, thinner than I had ever seen him. He was covered in long gashes, and a pool of dried blood coated the floor of the chest. My heart ached for him, how long had he been like this? Every full moon, turning and harming himself because he could not harm anyone else, could not run, could not do anything but sit there.

“Get him out,” I hissed. And Dumbledore did, with an odd glance towards me. I couldn’t place it, couldn’t discern what he meant by it. With surprising ease and strength, Dumbledore lifted Remus from the chest and passed him off to Sirius.

“Bring him to Madam Pomfrey, and get Molly Weasley, please.” Sirius hurried out with Remus. “Severus, please fetch some truth serum and Minerva, down in the kitchens, there is a house elf, Winky, please bring her back here.”

Snape and McGonagall both nodded and left the room to carry out their designated tasks. Dumbledore went over to examine Harry, clearly not trusting that I had deemed him alright. But rather than be insulted, I took that as my opportunity to return to the corridor, where Draco waited.

“Listen Draco, Harry doesn’t know that you know, and clearly now is not the time to tell him. So please, go back to our room and I’ll tell you everything as soon as I get back.” He recognized the pleading in my eyes and nodded.

“Be careful,” Was all he said and then he was gone. I turned and reentered the room.


	17. Be Brave

When I went back into the office, Dumbledore was hunched over the imposter, Barty Crouch. I returned to Harry and asked, “What happened? I was watching the map, you were with Cedric, running and then you both just disappeared.”

“Voldemort is back,” He whispered, “He’s back. The Cup was a portkey, brought us to a graveyard, Pettigrew was there, he killed Cedric.” Cedric was dead? No! “Then he cut off his hand, took my blood, used Voldemort’s father’s bone. And revived Voldemort. Voldemort summoned the death eaters, most of them are locked in Azkaban so only a few were actually there, but then he made us duel and my wand did something funny, it formed some sort of connection with Voldemort’s and made people come out, people who had died. Cedric, an old man, Bertha Jorkins, our parents... And they were all telling me to hold on, not to let go. They gave me instructions, told me exactly what to do to escape. Cedric... he asked me to bring his body back, to his parents.”

Dumbledore began to ask questions, and Harry gave him a play by play of everything that had happened in that graveyard. Midway through, McGonagall and Snape returned, the former toasting a terrified Winky. Sirius, however, did not come back. I knew he wouldn’t until he could be sure Remus was alright. I also knew he cared dearly for my brother and wanted to be here, it must have been killing him to have to choose.

Suddenly, the Remus-who-wasn’t-Remus’s features began to warp and shift. It was disturbing and grotesque and I could not look away. I watched as he became a different person entirely. But, it was not Barty Crouch. At least, he didn’t look like the Barty Crouch I had seen earlier in the school year. This man was far younger, with light hair and freckles. To my surprise, Harry and Dumbledore both seemed to recognize him immediately.

“What?” I asked, “Who is that?”

“Barty Crouch,” Dumbledore said, leaving me more confused than ever, until he added, “Junior.”

“Junior?” I asked, “Crouch has a son?”

“Had a son,” Dumbledore corrected, “The wizarding world was under the impression that he died in Azkaban.”

“Crouch’s son was in Azkaban? For what?”

“He aided in the torture of Frank and Alice Longbottom.” Dumbledore explained.

“Neville’s parents? But he told me it the Lestranges who tortured them into insanity.”

“They partook in the torture too.” Dumbledore said, “Severus, if you don’t mind, let’s wake Mr. Crouch up and give him the potion.”

Snape stepped forward, “Renervate.” Crouch Junior began to stir and Snape took the confusion of the first moments of waking to tip the potion down the back of his throat.

His eyes opened, wide and confused, then wider still, with realization, with understanding, then they fell into an almost lifeless shape, dull, empty.

“How are you alive?” Asked Dumbledore. And Crouch explained, in a monotone, robotic tone, he explained everything. He told us how he had been sick and dying in Azkaban, as all its prisoners were. His mother had been sick and dying as well, though for a very different reason. She had been able to visit her son with Crouch Senior. She had been then drunk polyjuice potion to appear like her son and he had drunk some to appear like her. He had left with his father. His father had kept him under the imperius curse for years, and slowly he had learned to fight it, just a little.

Winky convinced Senior to take Junior to the World Cup, hidden beneath an invisibility cloak the whole time. Winky sat with him in the top box, where he managed to steal Harry’s wand out of his back pocket. He had used it to cast the dark mark into the sky, but been stunned under the cloak, by me. But later that night, I had gotten a hold of Pettigrew and he had stunned me right back. Then he had attacked Remus and started parading around as him. He had done so for the whole year. He had broken up with Sirius, he had not known that Remus was a werewolf.

He had put Harry’s name in the Goblet of Fire at the start of the year. He had slipped the fact of the dragons to Hagrid in the hopes that he would pass on the information to Harry. He hadn’t needed to do anything for the second task, I had done it all on my own. In the third task, he had gone into the maze, taken out the other champions and obstacles, alike. He had turned the TriWizard Cup into a portkey, sent him to that graveyard, ensured the revival of his master.

Throughout his entire explanation, Winky had sat on her little stool, rocking back and forth, sobbing uncontrollably. Now that it was all over, Dumbledore had McGonagall bring her to the hospital wing for a calming draft.

“Now, Harry,” Dumbledore started, his voice soft and kind, “I’m sorry for this, I know you have been through a great ordeal, but I must ask you to recount everything that happened tonight. Every last detail you can recall.”

I stood up, thinking perhaps it would be easier for Harry to explain without my presence. “I’ll go, er, check on Remus... and um Sirius.” I stumbled from the room. It was like I could finally breathe again. I had felt the accusation rolling off of Dumbledore in waves. He knew, he certainly knew that I had been the one to take his books. The question was; could he do anything about it?

I practically ran down the corridor, luckily the hospital wing was not far. I heard the office door open and close again. Snape. I knew, without a doubt, Snape was following me. But I had already rounded the corner. I was gone from his line of sight.

I decided to stay true to my word and reached the hospital wing entrance in no time at all. I took a steadying breath and mentally prepared myself for the worst, before stepping across the threshold to hospital beyond.

I found Mrs. Weasley and Bill waiting there, sitting with Sirius around Remus’ bed. Tentatively i made my way over to the bed. Remus was asleep. The cuts on his face were healed over, leaving thin white scars in their place. Some color had come back to his skin, his hair had been regrown too, but he was still so thin. As I stared at him, my heart panting in my chest, I collapsed into the chair next to Sirius’s. He wrapped his arm around me and I leaned into him, desperately needing his comfort.

“Will he be alright?” I asked softly and loathed the quiver in my voice.

“Madam Pomfrey said he’ll be fine, he hasn’t woken up yet though, she said he should any minute now.” Sirius said, just as soft, but his voice was steady, either he was not afraid or he was hiding it well. I heavily suspected the latter. I refrained from remarking on it though.

Snape and Dumbledore entered, Harry behind them and Crouch, floating, restrained and unconscious, above their heads. Dumbledore seemed to be the one propelling him through the air, for he flicked his wand and Crouch soared onto one of the hospital bed, his bindings promptly securing him to the bed. Madam Pomfrey bustled out and forced Harry into a bed of his own. That’s when I noticed Winky, curled onto a bed herself, unconscious or asleep, I could not tell. She seemed peaceful though, perhaps she could move on from Crouch, and truly be a free elf.

Madam Pomfrey gave Harry a potion and stood over him until he drank it. Before it had finished passing through his lips, he was out like a light.

A mere moment after Harry’s eyes had closed, Draco came rushing inside. “Sorry Em, I couldn’t wait, it was killing me.” He said in a hurry as he crossed to me.

“It’s alright, Harry’s just gone off to sleep.” I said, meeting him half way. “But Draco, we have a bigger problem, Voldemort, he’s back.” Draco flinched at my use of Voldemort’s name, but realization began to sink in as the truth dawned on him.

“No,” He stumbled back, shaking his head, “No, no, are you sure? Emma, are you sure?”

I nodded, “Yes. Yes, I’m sure.”

“He’ll kill you, if he finds out, he’ll kill you, Emma.”

“He won’t find out.”

Just then, several things happened, almost too fast for me to process, to react. If I hadn’t been an animagus, with my heightened senses, my enhanced reaction time, it would have been too fast.

Crouch leapt from the bed, somehow free of his bindings and lunged for me. Remus’ eyes opened and there was something animalistic about them, something that certainly wasn’t human. And he was shifting, changing into the wolf as he bounded from his bed, straight for us. Sirius was shifting too, into the dog, into Padfoot, prepared to throw himself between us. Before I knew what I was doing, I was in my fox form. Draco was standing in front of me, as his white wolf, baring his teeth at Crouch.

I was prepared to attack either one of them, Crouch or Moony. But Padfoot had misjudged Moony’ aim and Moony went straight past him. Crouch’s head had only just begun to turn toward the werewolf when it caught him in the throat and tore his head clean off.

Draco moved between the werewolf and myself, both shielding me from harm and from seeing the gruesome sight before us. Even so, I did not miss the blood that splattered onto Draco’s pristine coat. I hated that I could hear Crouch’s heartbeat fate into silence.

Even as I struggled to process what was happening, Padfoot was between Draco and Moony. But there was nothing Padfoot needed to do, Moony was gone, replaced by a once more unconscious Remus. Padfoot shifted back to Sirius, Draco and I followed suit. As Sirius scooped Remus up and carried him back to his hospital bed, he said over his shoulder, “So, the two of you actually managed it.”

Was that pride in his voice?

I couldn’t be sure, my thoughts were too clouded by what had just unfolded and the stench of blood filling my nostrils. I tried to focus on other things, anything else would do. So I busied myself by looking around the rest of the room. Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey, McGonagall and Snape were all standing there, wands still pointed at Crouch’s dead body, utter confusion and shock written across every single one of their faces.

“You are just like your father.” Snape mumbled.

“Is that a compliment?” I asked haughtily.

“Yes.” He said, without a second thought.

Sirius and Dumbledore both gave him an odd look but neither said anything.

“You okay?” Draco asked.

“I don’t know,” I whispered back truthfully.

He wrapped me in his arms and I breathed him in, the scent of him, but the blood lingered on his skin, in his hair. I pulled back, stepping away, shoving him from me. I needed space, I needed to breathe.

“Emma!” Draco said, hurt, offended. I wanted to tell him that it wasn’t him, it was me, but I couldn't get the words out, not in front of all of these people.

“Draco,” Snape said as I fumbled for words, “Give her space.”

All I managed to get out was, “It’s not a full moon.”

Madam Pomfrey bustled over to me and wrapped an arm around me, “Come on dear, let’s get you to bed.” I followed her, dazed, in shock. But I had enough sense to refuse the sleeping potion. I needed to stay awake.

Snape was speaking with Draco, I couldn’t hear what he said, but Draco cast one last glance in my direction before leaving the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey tried to coax the potion down my throat, but still, I refused it. After several minutes she gave up. McGonagall, Dumbledore and Snape were busy with Crouch’s body. One of them conjured a stretcher, while another raised the body up, just above the place where the stretcher appeared, the last pulled a blanket from thin air to drape over the body. But they weren’t fast enough and too distracted to notice when Fred, George, Hermione and Ron entered. Fred saw the body first and immediately turned to block Hermione’s view, but she’d already seen it. She let out an awful scream and released this horrible gasping sound. Ron turned white as a ghost, and passed out. Weak. Mrs. Weasley, and Bill, who had been talking to Sirius, rushed over to the new comers.

Professor Sprout entered, just behind the others, tears leaking from her eyes and sliding down her cheeks. That’s when I remembered, Cedric was dead, he had been in her house, a prefect, certainly important to her. “What happened?” She gasped out, eyeing Crouch’s body. Flitwick was the next to come in, and before he could spot the body, Snape hastily covered it with the blanket. Then Trelawney was there, rambling on and on about how she had known, how the crystal ball had for told all of this.

There was too much going on. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. I needed to get out, to get away. In all of the commotion, the confusion, no one noticed me slip away.

I told myself I wasn’t running, just taking a break, taking a moment to think things through. I went to the Forbidden Forest, in my fox form, the predators left me alone. After an hour, maybe longer, I caught a whiff of something, something I had definitely smelled before, but never this strong, never as a fox. Pettigrew. He was in these woods.

I bounded over roots and rocks and fallen branches. There! There he was, a rat, scurrying awayfrom me, but he wasn’t fast enough. I caught him under my paw and turned back to my human form, his tail trapped beneath my dirty old tennis shoe.

“Turn to your human form, don’t make me do it.” I ordered, and to my shock, he did.

“Is Remus alive?” He squeaked.

“Yes.” I said, and as his shoulders sagged in relief, I understood. He still cared about his friends, he was just terribly terribly frightened.He had no idea how to be brave. “Listen to me, Pettigrew. The way Harry tells it, and he isn’t one to exaggerate, you revived Voldemort tonight. I could kill you for that alone. But... I’m not going to. In fact, I am not going to tell anyone that I’ve seen you here. You want to know why? Because I’ve seen something in you... Peter. You were sorted into Gryffindor, the house of the brave, for a reason. And you clearly still care about your friends. So Peter, I am counting on you, trusting you. Be brave.”


	18. Going Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is... the final chapter! :)

The moment I reentered the castle, I was met by Sirius.

“Emma, I thought you were smarter than this!” He began angrily, “Voldemort has just come back to life, it isn’t safe out there anymore!”

“I can take care of myself.” I said, as I strode back towards the hospital wing.

“Not against twenty death eaters, you can’t.”

“Right, because twenty death eaters are really going to just be waiting in then Forbidden Forest.” Only one would. “Look, I’m fine, and I wasn’t even human while I was in there, they would have left me alone, if they’d been there at all.”

“You underestimate their cruelty.” He said, following close behind me.

“Look, I get it, you’re trying to protect me, but you don’t need to be my parent, really, I can take care of myself.” I said.

“Emma, I’m not trying to be your parent, I know I could never replace James and Lily, I’m just trying to be your Godfather.”

“But you aren’t... my Godfather. Remus is.”

“Yes well, he’s currently indisposed.”

“I suppose you’ve got a point... even so...” I trailed off, unsure of what to say. We made the rest of the return journey in silence. I crossed the hospital wing and took up a seat beside Remus. Sirius sat himself down next to me.

“How do you think he managed it?” I asked.

“Managed what?”

“To turn himself into a werewolf when it’s not a full moon.”

“No idea.”

“I think I know,” Dumbledore said from behind us, as though he had materialized from thin air.

“Yeah, of course you do,” I muttered under my breath. “Well? Do enlighten us then.”

He gave me a slight glare, but explained anyway, “I believe that during his time in capture, he was able to hold off the wolf for a time, now he finally let go, let the wolf in.”

“But the full moon was weeks ago,” I said, “He would have had to hold it back for weeks, and he’s so thin, sick, how was he able to do that?”

“Self preservation is a strong motivator.” Maybe for you. I was unsatisfied with his response but chose not to retort.

I sighed, “Sirius?”

“Yeah?”

“Harry and I aren’t safe at the Dursley’s house anymore, not with Voldemort back. Do you think we could stay with you this summer?”

To my surprise and annoyance, Sirius looked to Dumbledore before answering. “Emma... Look, I know you don’t want to stay with them, but there are other factors at play here.”

“Like what?” I blurted.

“Lily protected Harry, so her dying shielded him from Voldemort. Dumbledore believes that that protection lives on in Petunia, so as long as he considers her house a home , he is safe.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.” I said, standing and turning to face him. “Neither of us have considered that place to be a home in years, and that isn’t how the protection works anyway, every study ever goes against it. It’s old magic, but even old magic has its limits and that magic did its job! The magic saved Harry’s life and destroyed the one threatening him, it has fulfilled its purpose, it’s gone.”

“Dumbledore believes...” Sirius started, but I interrupted.

“I don’t care what Dumbledore believes! We can place your house under the fidelius charm and then they won’t be able to get to him when he’s with you. Everyone is so worried about Voldemort killing him that no one stops to think that Vernon and Petunia will likely just do it all on their own!”

“She has a point you know.” Sirius said, turning to Dumbledore.

“We can talk about this later, now is not the time. Cornelius Fudge is on his way here now, he and I have much to discuss, preparations that need to be made, changes, after that we can figure all of these things out. But for now, I must go.”

***

Nothing productive had come from Dumbledore’s meeting with Cornelius, except for the solidification of my opinion that Cornelius was an utterly incompetent idiot who had no business being the minister. He did not believe that Voldemort was back, he thought Harry was merely seeking attention and more fame. He also thought that Remus had no business being the defense against the dark arts teacher went he couldn’t protect himself from one lone death eater. He had decided he would be appointing a defense against the dark arts teacher of his own for the year to come. I was sure it had something to do with the fact that Remus was a werewolf. I knew Cornelius was just as prejudiced as the rest of them.

I was worried of who he would deem worthy of the job and feared he would choose someone like Lockhart of Quirrell. Even Crouch had been a far better teacher than either of the formers ever could be. Or maybe he would unwittingly hand the job to some death eater and then where would we be? Dead, we would all be dead. Well the Slytherins would likely survive, but the ‘blood traitors’ and the muggleborns would be gone, murdered.

Cornelius had dropped off some good news though, Harry had officially one the tournament, and thereby earning the one thousand galleons. He had immediately tried to give them away to the Weasley’s who had of course refused.

The next morning, Cedric’s parents had visited him and he had had to recount the entire incident in the maze and graveyard to them too. He had offered them the money, but like the Weasley’s they too had refused.

Next he tried to hand it off to Remus, but, I was beginning to sense a theme here, he turned it down.

“You could give it to Hagrid, though he would probably use it to buy another dragon illegally.” I suggested.

But Hagrid didn’t want it either.

“How about Fred and George? They’ve been working hard, trying to build something for themselves and they could really do it, if they had the proper funding.”

“But do you think they would accept it?” Harry asked me.

“Not sure, but it’s worth a try.”

And it turned out to be worth it in the end. After some convincing, Fred and George agreed to take the money. I was glad, they really were brilliant. And Hermione was starting to see it, really starting to understand just how smart they were, especially Fred.

I hoped they would get together already instead of just dancing around it, but alas, hadn’t Draco and I done the very same thing?

***

Sirius and Dumbledore had had their conversation and come to an understanding. Harry and I would be able to go home with him, live with him and Remus. In exchange, the house would become the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. The Order was an organization foundedby Dumbledore decades ago to combat Voldemort and his death eaters. My parents had been a part of its first rendition, of only they could have been here for the second go around.

The Weasley family was a part of this new Order, so they would spend the majority of the summer with us too, as would Hermione. I wished Draco could come too, but he would be staying with Blaise. At least I knew he would be safe for the three months we would be apart.

Even so, it would be dreadful being away from him.

It was quite the fiasco trying to pack up all of our things. Everything had mingled together and gotten spread around Draco’s room during the time I had been staying there. It took nearly three hours to sort everything out and figure out what would stay there and what would come home with us.

In the end, it wasn’t as hard to leave him as I thought it would be. He promised to write to me every week and I promised to do the same in return. I knew the both of us would hold up to our ends, so I had nothing to worry about. Except for the looming threat of Voldemort hanging over us... and about a billion other things. There would be no escape from our problems this summer, not with me living in the Order’s headquarters.

It would certainly be an interesting summer.

***

The train ride home passed in a blur and then we were at number twelve Grimmauld Place. We had over pick of the rooms, I chose one that read R.A.B. on the door. Sirius told me it stood for Regulus Arcturus Black, Sirius’s brother.

Downstairs, Dumbledore was working on casting the fidelius charm, when suddenly Draco burst through my window, bleeding heavily and looking scared out of his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! I’ll get book four started as soon as I can.


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